It’s no secret that someone, somewhere will become ill each day. As babies, our immune systems need to learn about bacteria so that our bodies can learn how to put up a defense against them when we’re older.
There have been studies to prove immune systems are bad at fighting infections if our bodies weren’t exposed to them at a young age. Of course, that doesn’t mean babies should be subject to every bacteria and disease known to man! These days, advances in medicine mean that there are plenty of vaccines available for a whole host of common ailments.
Vaccines play an important part of ensuring that we live longer. They help us to fight infections introduced from the world around us.
One of the hottest topics in the medical world is a drug called Zmapp. It’s an experimental drug that is getting used to treat the current Ebola outbreak in Africa. There is no vaccine available for Ebola.
Containing Ebola is proving to be a challenge. And so countries like Sierra Leone had to resort to a countrywide “lockdown” to prevent further spread of the disease.
Some people hail vaccines as miracles. Whereas others consider them to be medical marvels. Whatever your view, we can all agree that they offer a positive outcome for sick people around the world.
But have you ever wondered how vaccines get made? Here is a journey through the timeline of a typical vaccine.
Strategies
Research is key to creating effective vaccines. Without research, we won’t know how best to treat an illness. Some illnesses, like HIV and AIDS, are incurable. That’s because of the complex nature of the diseases.
In those cases, the vaccines on offer help patients to lead a comfortable life, but they don’t cure them. For other illnesses, there might be research to show we can make effective vaccines to destroy those illnesses.
The medical industry has to decide the best strategy for a specific illness when developing vaccines.
Making vaccines
There are several stages that the industry must go through before they can make available vaccines. The first is feasibility. Is the vaccine safe enough to use on all sufferers of an illness? If not, it needs further research and development.
The second stage involves making studies of the vaccine. Doing this requires the help of test candidates, so that the results of the vaccines can get studied over a long period.
After tests conclude positive results, the vaccine needs government approval before it enters production. In the United States, this gets done through the Food & Drug Administration agency.
Production
At this stage, the vaccine can now enter production. An industrial mixing tank for vaccines gets used for making the “recipe” of the vaccine.
Once that’s done, the vaccine is then made into tablet or solution form. The latter option can get made into syrup form, or as a solution for use with needles.
The vaccine is then available for patients to use, as prescribed by medical staff. Thanks for reading today’s blog post.
