Kelly's Biology Class

I went for my final vaccine jab of Hep A/B yday, one on each side of my arm so that it wouldn't be too sore for me to bear. Turned out the jab for Hep B alone was so strong that I could feel the sore immediately after the jab was administered into me.

But it was the Hep A jab that carried on to sting longer.

So when the doc proposed that I get the vaccine for cervix cancer as well, i asked him to jab it on the same arm of my Hep B jab.

it must have been the wrong thing to do cuz when I woke up this morning, I couldn't wash my hair, couldn't reach for the showerhead nor wear my clothes properly.

needless to say, i couldn't sleep on the right side of my body where i had 2 jabs on my arm. :(

my right arm is temporarily handicapped, simply to say.

ok ranting aside. the doc explained to me how vaccines work yday. I dunno if everyone oredi knows, but I didn't until yday! it was all pretty fascinating so I decided i will share it with you guys.

basically, the vaccine is filled with the germs of the specific ailment you are taking the vaccine for. for example, the flu vaccine is filled with flu germs, and the H1N1 vaccine (if one comes up soon), will be filled with the H1N1 germs.

before you gasp in horror, here's the deal.

the germs in the vaccine have been treated and processed, so that it wud not harm our body when injected. it's cool cuz it works like a fire drill!

this is how our bodies work - whenever our bodies get attacked by a virus, say Virus A, it will send out "Soldiers" A to fight it. So on and so forth for Virus B Soldiers B, Virus C Soldier C.

this is how the vaccine works - when the germs of a certain virus is injected into us, our body will recognise the germs, as say, Germs X and send its "Soldiers X" to fight it. so how it will prevent us from getting the ailment after taking the vaccine, is that if we do get invaded by the real virus, the "soldiers" will already be there in our bodies to begin with, so the virus will mean nothing to us as we have already been prepped with our "defensive shield" and we will be immune to it. :)

Which is why we will need all the different kinds of vaccines for different ailments/viruses. And the reason why some vaccines are not available (say, cancer or AIDS) is because the scientists have not figured out a way to process/treat the germs of the said diseases for it to safe enough to be administered into a healthy body.

And if anyone tells you a certain vaccine will only work for new-borns, that is total bullshit. Like my example above for Virus A Soldier A, vaccines will work regardless of age. So go on and take all the vaccines available now!

However, the doc also added that some ppl's body are very smart. Even when the vaccine is injected into them, the body is able to recognise that the germs injected are harmless, hence, do not release the needed "soldiers" to "treat" the germs. Hence, vaccines will not work for such ppl when the real virus attacks, as they will be defense-less. but fret not, this only happens to abt 1% of all ppl. And no one will know who these 1% are until, unfortunately, they are struck with the disease that they have been vaccinated for.

head on down to your family doctor and find out what kind of vaccines are available to you and take them! "Prevention is better than cure" has been been apt to use. :)

My right sore arm is definitely worth it in this case especially since I come from a family with cancer history. at least I have one cancer less to worry abt now!