Authors: Bamba and Delroy Daley of the AUC School of Medicine
Hey friends! It’s Bamba here! I know what you are thinking: “When will things get back to normal again?” According to experts, things may begin to be more “normal” soon… hopefully. How will we move closer to normal? By creating a treatment for people sick with COIVD-19 or by making a vaccine to protect people from becoming infected with COVID-19.
So, what is a vaccine and how will it help?
A vaccine is a type of medicine your doctor gives you to protect you from getting sick.
For example, millions of people get sick with the flu during flu season every year. The flu season starts around the month of October and ends in May, with the most cases between December and February. Before the flu season, your doctor can give you a flu vaccine, which can protect you from getting sick with the flu. Cool, right?
How do vaccines work?
Scientists make vaccines in different ways. Two popular ways are (1) using pieces of a microbe (a microbe is a tiny virus or bacteria) and (2) using an entire microbe.
Most times, the microbe used to make the vaccine is dead, but sometimes the vaccine can work better if the microbe is still alive. An example of a live (alive) vaccine is the Chicken Pox vaccine – a disease that gives you itchy bumps all over your body. No, no, no, you don’t turn into a chicken, but it would be kinda cool!
Did you know that vaccines don’t cure you from a disease?
A cure is something that gets a sick person back to being 100% healthy.
What happens when you take a vaccine?
The vaccine lets your body know what the microbe “looks” like so it can fight it off the next time it sees it.
Did you know that scientists are working on a vaccine for the Coronavirus?
Scientists all over the world are racing fast to make a vaccine that can protect us from the COVID-19 infection.
Normally, it takes about 7 to 10 years for a vaccine to be approved to give to humans. But, since the world is in a pandemic, scientists can get approved to give the vaccine to people much sooner.
What is a “pandemic”?
A pandemic happens when a disease spreads across the world – just like the way COVID-19 has spread.
So, that’s why everyone has been talking about vaccines lately. You know what else I found out about vaccines? Scientists must test them on animals first to see if the vaccine is safe. Then they must do many tests on humans to make sure the vaccine does its job correctly – fighting off the infection!
Wow, that was a lot to learn about vaccines! I wonder if they have a vaccine for chores. Hmm...
Well, there you have it! It was fun learning with you. Until next time friends! Bamba – out!
P.S. – Don’t forget the cool, new science words we learned today: vaccine, microbe, cure, and pandemic!
