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Vaccination
Vaccines offer cheap, reliable protection. Thanks to these vaccines, diseases that once left thousands of persons dead or disabled each year are now rare. But they are still killing people. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 1,5 million children die each year due to diseases, that could have been prevented by vaccination.
Immunity
Immunity is the physical state of a body to recognize and fight foreign antigens such as pathogenic microorganisms or their toxins while self substances are tolerated. Immunity is sub-divided in
nonspecific immunity (mechanisms of inborn resistance against all foreign antigens) and
specific or adaptive immunity (components of the immune system adapt themselves to a specific antigen).
Specific immunity can be acquired „naturally“ through the non-deliberate contact with an antigen or „artificially“ through deliberate contact with an antigen. Vaccination evokes an artificial immunity by passive or active immunization:
Passive immunization means that the immunity is passed to the patient through the transfer of – for instance – readymade antibodies of an immune donor. The patient’s immune system remains passive (no production of antibodies, sp...