Vaccines: Your Friend Is Worried About The Many Vaccines Tha

Vaccines. Your friend is worried about the many vaccines that his newborn son is scheduled to receive and asks you for advice since you are taking a biology course. Start with an explanation of how vaccines work. Briefly contrast the traditional methods used to create vaccines with more recently used biotechnology techniques, including the COVID 19 mRNA vaccines. Explain how the mRNA vaccines work based on your knowledge of the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology.

Vaccines are biological agents used to stimulate the immune system to recognize and combat specific pathogens, thereby providing protection against infectious diseases. They typically contain antigens—either inactivated pathogens, parts of pathogens, or genetically engineered components—that mimic disease-causing organisms. Once administered, vaccines activate the immune system to produce an immune response, including the generation of memory cells, which enable the immune system to respond rapidly upon future exposures to the actual pathogen (Iwasaki & Omer, 2020). This immunological memory reduces the severity of the disease or prevents infection altogether.

Traditional vaccines include inactivated or attenuated (weakened) versions of the pathogens, which stimulate immunity without causing the disease. These include vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, and influenza. The production of such vaccines often involves growing the pathogens in culture, then inactivating or weakening them through heat or chemicals—methods that can be time-consuming and pose biosafety risks (Tabotabo-Picardal & Paño, 2018).

Recent advances in biotechnology have led to new vaccine development methods, notably recombinant DNA technology and mRNA technology. Unlike traditional vaccines, mRNA vaccines do not contain live pathogens. Instead, they use messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that encode specific viral proteins, such as the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for COVID-19. These vaccines are developed rapidly because synthesizing RNA is faster than cultivating large quantities of pathogens, and they can be easily modified as new variants emerge (Huang, Zeng & Yan, 2021).

How mRNA vaccines work based on the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology

The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology describes the flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to proteins. In the case of mRNA vaccines, the process begins with the synthetic production of mRNA that encodes the viral spike protein. When administered, these mRNA molecules enter the host’s cells, where they serve as templates for protein synthesis. The host cell’s ribosomes translate the mRNA into the viral protein, which then triggers an immune response. This includes the activation of T cells and B cells, leading to the production of antibodies and immunological memory (Iwasaki & Omer, 2020).

The mRNA delivered by the vaccine is transient and degrades naturally after protein synthesis, ensuring that no genetic material from the vaccine integrates into the host genome. The immune system recognizes the viral protein as foreign, producing antibodies and long-term memory cells that mount a quicker, stronger response if the real virus is encountered in the future. This mechanism exemplifies the flow of genetic information and protein production described in the Central Dogma, with mRNA acting as the critical intermediate (Huang, Zeng & Yan, 2021).

Vaccinating Children and the Impact of Vaccinations

In the United States, routine childhood vaccines protect against many dangerous diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella, polio, chickenpox, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough). These vaccines have dramatically decreased the prevalence of these diseases, with some, like smallpox, eradicated altogether, and others such as polio, near eradication (Roush & Murphy, 2007).

Over the past 100 years, vaccines have significantly reduced morbidity and mortality associated with infectious diseases. For example, following widespread vaccination against measles, the incidence dropped by over 99% in the U.S. (Orenstein & Seib, 2019). Similarly, the introduction of the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine led to a dramatic decline in meningitis cases among children. These decreases highlight the importance of vaccines in public health and disease control.

Public Concerns and Scientific Evidence

Despite their success, some parents are hesitant to vaccinate their children due to concerns about safety and potential side effects. Misinformation spread via social media and misconceptions about vaccine ingredients have contributed to vaccine skepticism. One persistent myth is that the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine causes autism, despite overwhelming scientific evidence disproving this claim (Taylor et al., 2014).

Extensive research involving large epidemiological studies has found no causal link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The original study suggesting a connection was retracted due to scientific misconduct and flawed methodology. The consensus within the scientific community, including organizations like the CDC and WHO, affirms that vaccines are safe and effective, with benefits far outweighing the risks (Demicheli et al., 2012).

Conclusion and Recommendations

Based on credible scientific evidence, it is highly recommended that parents follow the vaccination schedule provided by health authorities. Vaccines have saved millions of lives by preventing severe illnesses and associated complications. Public health efforts should continue to focus on educating caregivers about the safety and importance of immunizations, dispelling myths, and ensuring equitable access to vaccines. Protecting children through vaccination is essential not only for individual health but also for community immunity that safeguards those who cannot be vaccinated (Orenstein et al., 2019).

References

  • Demicheli, V., Jefferson, T., Rivetti, A., Di Pietrantonj, C., & Harnden, A. (2012). Vaccines for measles: an overview of systematic reviews. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (8). https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD009512
  • Huang, Q., Zeng, J., & Yan, J. (2021). COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Journal of Genetics and Genomics, 48(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgg.2020.12.001
  • Iwasaki, A., & Omer, S. B. (2020). Why and how vaccines work. Cell, 183(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.08.022
  • Orenstein, W. A., & Seib, K. (2019). The successful eradication of smallpox and the challenges of eliminating other vaccine-preventable diseases. The New England Journal of Medicine, 381(8), 681–690. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1807154
  • Roush, S. W., & Murphy, T. V. (2007). Historical comparisons of disease prevalence and vaccination coverage. JAMA, 297(23), 2587–2599. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.297.23.2587
  • Taylor, L. E., Swerdfeger, A. L., & Eslick, G. D. (2014). Vaccines are not associated with autism: An evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies. Vaccine, 32(29), 3623–3629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.04.085
  • Tabotabo-Picardal, M., & Paño, J. D. (2018). Facilitating instruction of central dogma of molecular biology through contextualization. Journal of Teacher Education and Research, 13(2), 118.

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