Vaccines and Viruses
- mariadigerlando
- 7 hours ago
- 4 min read
I'm going to be touching on one of the most controversial topics, vaccines, so please be kind, followed by a brief on viruses.
What is a vaccine?
By definition, a vaccine is an inactive or weakened virus used to strengthen our immune system, so our white blood cells (aka WBC immune system soldiers) identify and attacks the virus (Webster, 2026).
The creation of the smallpox vaccine in 1796 was the very start of the journey in creating a healthier and longer life (immunize.org, 2026) with the use of cowpox illness (WHO, 2026). CDC suggests there are no identified cases of smallpox today.
While there are no identified cases of smallpox, this does not go to say, "vaccines get rid of all illnesses".
For example, the polio vaccine uses 3 inactive polio viruses to stimulate our immune system (Offit, 2024), thus eradication of polio virus type 2 and 3 (CDC, 2024). However, the CDC suggests that type 1 polio is not eradicated; therefore, someone can still contract the illness in 6 countries excluding Americas and Europe (WHO, 2026).
So, what's the point in getting a vaccine if we are still going to get sick?
Yes, I'm very glad you asked.
There are two types of immunity, active and passive.
Vaccines are a part of the active category, while we are not going to worry about passive for the purpose of this post.
What makes vaccines apart of active immunity?
Well, you are injected by a live (active) or dead (inactive) virus. Either way, it triggers to your immune system, WAKE UP! Thus, our WBC soldiers attempt to attack, fight, and remember the virus for later, without actually getting sick with THE virus.
Vaccines also trigger something called Herd Immunity.
Herd Immunity is when a population of people develop immunity to a particular virus through active infection or vaccination. This decreases the rate at which an illness travels and infects, which protects the vulnerable populations (i.e. babies and elderly) (Cleveland Clinic, 2025).
Myth Busting
A popular myth, that spread like wildfire, is vaccines causing autism.
Do vaccines cause autism? In the short version, no, but here's the long version. Let's look at autism as a whole, by definition autism is a genetically inherited disorder that impacts a child's development (social and intellectual). While there is no cure for autism, early treatment is imperative for the developing individual to have an easier integration in society, in some cases. However, in other cases, the individual still benefits from treatment, but continues to suffer from severe delays.
The Mayo Clinic suggests environmental exposure during pregnancy can be a cause of autism, alongside genetics (2025). This may look like pollutants and viruses the pregnant individual is exposed to impact the developing fetus (Mayo Clinic, 2025).
Autism is a complex disorder with a widening spectrum, and the brain is a very complicated organ. That being said, there is no way to prevent the development of autism (Mayo Clinic, 2025).
Now let's dive into what viruses are and how the heck do we get sick in the first place?
Viruses
A virus is like a toxic relationship; one person latches on to the other and won't let go until they are fought off.
No not literally, but in the short, a pathogen infects a host (human or animal) and continues to replicate in the body. The host can present as healthy or sick; however, if they are presented as healthy, the host can still spread the virus (Cleveland Clinic, 2023).
Cue the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020; during this pandemic some people got sicker than others, while some people were "carriers". This is where the unknown can be scary, especially for the immunocompromised.
The difference in Covid, next to other common viruses, is that Covid changed rapidly. When I say "change", for this context, means that the virus, itself, mutated very fast.
Cue the millions of vaccines that came out at one time.
Now you may ask, "Why is it recommended to get all these vaccines yearly? I already got vaccinated 3xs for covid, once for the flu in 1999, and my pneumonia vaccine over 20years ago. That should be enough, right?"
Not exactly. Although, some viruses may not change as fast as Covid did, they still change. So, every year, the CDC and FDA create vaccines that correlate with the most popular predicted strains for the year.
Someone may say "I got the flu vaccine but still got the flu".
My response to this is, you can't get sick from a vaccine, so that person may have just had some side effects from the vaccine itself.
Just like everything we put in our body, the vaccines have side effects. So read the fine print and expect the unexpected feeling of malaise.
But if you still got the flu weeks later, my response is "how bad was the flu?" because while the vaccine doesn't prevent you from getting sick, it is used to prevent the severity. Thus, not many people die from the flu nowadays. The CDC reported 12,000 deaths from flu in 2024-2025, showing a wide benefit from vaccinations (2026).
Fun fact, the flu vaccine was created in 1918 in response to the flu pandemic (Mayo Clinic, 2026).
Conclusion
It all comes full circle, but this post is not to convince you to get vaccinated or believe different. The purpose of this post/blog is to increase health literacy, present facts, and let you do the rest. Please be on lookout for more topics and comment with any topic suggestions you wish to learn more about.
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