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Vaccinations
A vaccine is the preparation of dead microorganisms, living weakened microorganisms or inactivated toxins. Its administration induces the development of immunity and protection against a pathogen or toxin and is called a vaccination.
1,376 Questions
What is a vaccination the most effective tool for?
Vaccination is the most effective tool for prevention of infectious diseases.
Are H1N1 09 Swine Flu vaccines being recalled and why?
Yes. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the non-safety recall on December 15, 2009. They determined that the vaccine in a particular lot of pre-filled syringes did not meet the range of potency (strength) that was specified by the FDA and the division of Merck and Company, Inc. for use in the US.
Merck, whose division, Sanofi Pasteur, produced the vaccine, has confirmed that the recall affects 1.2 million doses. The CDC has indicated that only approximately 800,000 of those doses had been distributed. Sanofi Pasteur of Sanofi-Aventis SA, is based in Paris.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this non-safety issue has prompted the recall of A-H1N1/09 pandemic swine flu vaccine that was prepared in single dose syringes for children under age three. These reports indicate that there is no safety issue and those who have already had the vaccination using these particular lots of vaccine do not need to have additional vaccine administered since the strength level is only slightly below what was specified in the original approval by FDA.
In the manufacture of most medicines and vaccines, the recommended dose is based on a specified strength range that will be effective for the general population. Because a larger person may need slightly more and a smaller person slightly less, the exact measure of the recommended dose is adjusted based on clinical trials. These trials are used to determine the parameters of the dosage that can be effective for larger sized people, but still safe and not too much for the smaller sized people. In some types of medicines this dose must be more exact and then it is often based on the size of person, such as doses specified as so many milligrams or units per kilogram of weight.
The doses of vaccines do not need to be as specific. But when the FDA has approved and expected delivery of a specific dose that will be safe and effective for the general population, instead of one which needs to be more finely adjusted by individual measurements, they will require the recall and expect the company to provide the drug exactly as stated in the approval documents.
This is an indication that the ongoing monitoring of the H1N1/09 vaccine by the FDA is being carried out well and that the watch is especially close. The recall is a reassuring indicator about the monitoring process to medical professionals .
Only certain lots of the vaccine are included in the recall of December 15, 2009.
The following statements were made by CDC on their web site [see link below]:
Should infants and children who received vaccines from these lots be revaccinated?
No. The vaccine potency is only slightly below the "specified" range. The vaccine in these lots is still expected to be effective in stimulating a protective response despite this slight reduction in the concentration of antigen. There is no need to re-administer a dose to those who received vaccine from these lots. However, as is recommended for all 2009 H1N1 vaccines, all children less than 10 years old should get the recommended two doses of H1N1 vaccine approximately a month apart for the optimal immune response. Therefore, children less than 10 years old who have only received one dose of vaccine thus far should still receive a second dose of 2009 H1N1 vaccine.
Parents of children who received vaccine from the recalled lots do not need to take any action, other than to complete the two-dose immunization series if not already completed.
CDC has indicated that the following lots are included in the recall:
0.25 ml pre-filled syringes, 10-packs (NDC # 49281-650-25, sometimes coded as 49281-0650-25):
UT023DA
UT028DA
UT028CB
0.25 ml pre-filled syringes, 25-packs (NDC # 49281-650-70, sometimes coded as 49281-0650-70):
UT030CA
What happened when a vaccine enters the bloodstream?
white blood cells treat the vaccine as an intruder and make antibodies to fight it.
First, they protect the one that's been vaccinated.
Secondly, by keeping the vaccinated one from catching the disease, they can't spread the disease, which in a slightly roundabout way also protects the unvaccinated.
Is there a vaccine for 5 month old baby for H1N1?
Yes, there is a vaccine for H1N1 (swine flu) that can be administered to infants, including those as young as 6 months old. However, a 5-month-old baby would not yet be eligible for the vaccine, as it is typically recommended starting at 6 months. It's important to consult with a pediatrician for specific vaccination schedules and recommendations for your child.
Does swine vaccine contain antifreeze?
No, they wouldn't give that to people. Antifreeze is a poison.
When new vaccines are being needed, they are created by drug companies that are approved to develop vaccines by the governments, who have pre-ordered the vaccines, making the drug companies want to manufacture them.
The health ministries of the countries and the World Health Organization, etc. help the drug companies find the strain of virus or type of bacteria or other microbe that will be the best match for the microbe that they are wanting to protect the public against with a vaccination. They determine what the best matched strains are that are circulating in the population or are expected to be circulating in the next flu season, and often provide the "seed stock" of that microbe to the drug companies.
Once the drug companies have grown the virus/bacteria, etc. and then killed or weakened it so it can not make anyone sick, they put it into a solution for injection. They then have a vaccine that is a candidate for the governments to approve so they can fulfill the orders they have received.
They present documentation to describe what it in it, how it was made, etc. to the government approval agencies. The drug companies and government agencies work together to conduct human trials and determine the safety and efficacy of the candidate vaccines.
Once the approval groups within the governments, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) in Europe/UK, have all the information about the candidate vaccines, they study the documentation and test results and select those candidate vaccines that they approve for use in their countries, and then the chosen vaccines are called approved vaccines instead of candidate vaccines.
Are infant vaccinations compulsory?
You can currently get religious exemptions in every state, and philosophical exemptions in some. Otherwise, yes.
How do you increase immunities?
By getting vaccinations. They are safe and effective ways to increase immunities and reduce infectious disease. Although the risks are small with vaccine use, they are minuscule when compared to the risk posed by the disease. Keep up to date with vaccinations and make sure your family does as well.
Is a five-eighth inch needle long enough for a swine flu vaccination?
Usually not, but each clinician who is licensed to give injections is trained to determine what equipment is needed for each patient, and how and where the injection will be given based upon the specific prescription orders. Each patient has a different amount and location of fatty tissue. The less fat, usually the shorter the needle needs to be to reach the muscle tissue beneath it. The clinician may slightly alter the angle of injection to adjust for individuals with very little fat, or determine that a shorter needle is required. Usually IM injections are given with a one inch or one and a half inch needle for average sized adults, but this may vary depending on the individual and the prescription.
For the 2011-2012 flu season, there is a newly approved intradermal injection that uses a much shorter and ultra-fine needle. It is approved for use in patients age 18 - 64.
For the average adult:
Intramuscular Injections:
Any one cc syringe for IM (intramuscular) injections is good to use. For IM, you need a needle that is one to one and a half inches long and, typically, a 25 gauge needle is used.
Intradermal Injections:
Fluzone Intradermal vaccine comes in a new prefilled single dose microinjection system designed to consistently deposit vaccine antigens into the dermal layer of the skin of adults.
Typically, adult influenza parenteral vaccines are administered into the muscle utilizing a needle 1 inch to 1.5 inches (25 mm to 38 mm) in length. Fluzone Intradermal vaccine features an ultra-fine needle that is 0.06 inches (1.5 mm) in length. The needle is 90% shorter than a needle for IM injection and much more fine.
Why vaccines are given periodically and not altogether?
Because exposing your immune system to everything under the sun in one hit may be a bit too much for it to handle at once. If you want a good immune response, give vaccines over time - it's like you running three marathons at once: you're likely to perform better on them if they're not all in the one hit.
Some vaccines (flu vaccines) are different each year, depending on what strains are getting around.
Some vaccines are live - not dangerous, that bit's been bred out of them, but if you give these ones all together, they might ruin the chances of each of them actually having a response, because they might battle it out between each other.
What are the dangers of not following needle protocol?
The basic danger of needlestick injuries, not to mention the injury itself, which can lead to infection, is blood-borne disease. The patient on whom the needle was used to to carrying antibodies to various diseases such as hepatitis or HIV.
Will the flu shot decrease your immune system even more?
No, a flu shot tricks your immune system to think you have the flu and it makes and sends antibodies to fight the infection, if you have an otherwise healthy immune system. The immune responses do not "decrease" your system's ability to protect you and actually may help you respond more quickly to the next antigen (causative organism).
A flu shot just introduces a "dead" or weakened flu virus to your system so it can work out how to make antibodies against that organism in advance of a real infection by a full-strength flu virus. The immune system in healthy individuals is ready and able to go to work to fight infections, and the more organisms it works against, the more patterns for antibodies there are in your immune system "memory". Some of the old patterns may match the new organism well enough to provide protection, or make it easier for your immune system to build slight variations in them to work on the new antigen. So, exposure to more organisms may actually help prime your immune system so it can respond more quickly to any "invasion".
How do you treat a really sore arm after a pneumonia vaccination?
Many vaccinations are given by injection in the muscle tissue of the arm. There are commonly local reactions that make your arm hurt when you move it or touch it for a few days after the shot. It may feel hot or look swollen and red in the place where the medicine was injected. The most effective way to get rid of that soreness is to move the arm. Use it as you would normally even if uncomfortable at first.
The sooner and more often you use it normally, the less pain you will have and the sooner the arm will be back to normal. I advise others to be sure, and I always make sure for myself, that the injection is put in my dominate arm (right side since I am right handed). That forces me to use the arm, and I almost never have soreness anymore. Other things you can do to make it feel better is to put warm moist compresses on the area (wet several washcloths in very warm- not hot- water, squeeze out the excess moisture, and hold against the sore place gently for at least 20 minutes at a time for several times a day, rinsing the cloths again with warm water if they cool off in the meantime.)day I usually have only needed to do that one or two days before all is right again, but some people have these symptoms for up to 5 days.
If the local redness and pain gets worse and not better over time, contact your health care professional for advice, or ask your pharmacist about over the counter treatment you might try.
Why did one group have a placebo sprayed into their nostril before exposure to the virus?
In order to test the effectiveness of a medicine or vaccine, you need to know how much difference just that one factor made in the results. The placebo (a substance that will have no effect on whether a person gets sick or on the course of the illness) is given to the control group, so that any difference in the health of the other group can be attributed specifically to the vaccine or medication.
NO. Tamiflu is an anti-viral medication which, as opposed to curing influenza, lessens the symptoms and is said to cut short the amount of time you're sick.
Why would a vaccine be administered into the nasal cavity to protect the reproductive tract?
It doesn't matter how we get the vaccine into your body, it works as long as it gets in there. It causes your body to create special cells in your blood that protect you if that kind of infectious agent (e.g., virus) ever gets in your body again. Since the work is done by the immune system and the blood, it doesn't matter that the place the vaccine entered your body is far away from the place of the infection.
Yes, if they are getting both vaccines by injections. That timing of the two kinds of vaccinations (seasonal flu shot and swine flu shot) is not a problem, in fact they could be given at the same time. This is not true for the nasal mist vaccinations, however.
You can NOT take a nasal flu mist for swine flu at the same time as you take a nasal flu mist for seasonal flu. They can render each other ineffective. Ask a health care professional how long you should wait between these two kinds of nasal mist vaccinations.
You can take a nasal flu mist for swine flu with any other nasal flu mist vaccine EXCEPT the one for seasonal flu.
The 2009 H1N1 flu shot (inactivated 2009 H1N1 vaccine) can be given at the same visit as any other vaccine, including pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine.
You can take a swine flu nasal mist at the same time as a seasonal flu shot.
You can take the H1N1/09 swine flu shot and a nasal mist for the seasonal flu at the same time.
There would be no reason to take the swine flu shot at the same time as the swine flu nasal mist since both do the same thing, so that should not be done.
What is the difference between vaccine conjugate and Polysaccharide vaccine?
Vaccines use different types of vaccination technology - Polysaccharide and Conjugate are different types of technologies. It is generally considered that Conjugate vaccines provide superior long-term protection versus Polysaccharide vaccines because of the mechanism by which they create an antibody response. While polysaccharide vaccines may offer individual protection, they do not provide the same level of "herd immunity" (i.e. non-immunized individuals provided protection due to number of immunized individulas in community) provided by Conjugate vaccines.
What is the difference between vaccination and inoculation?
inoculation means - Introduction of viable cells, usually in a culture media, or laboratory animals under controlled environmental conditions.
Where else, Vaccination means - Introduction of pathogens or part of the pathogen without their virulence factor ( In other words, the structural composition is maintained and the pathogenicity is disrupted )
Should you exercise after multiple vaccinations in both arms?
I had a bootrix IPV vaccine which is a combination of a few vaccines in one, as I am going to Brazil in a few months. I also had a B12 infection at the same time (being a vegetarian). The doctor said there would be no problem giving the 2 of them the same day. About 2 hours after the vaccine, I went to a fairly full on dance class for an hour and was sweating a lot at the end. I had kept myself fairly hydrated through the day and have had no problems before with that class afterwards. But a few hours later after the class I started shivering and my temperature was 35.2 and I my stomach started cramping up and I wanted to throw up. Within the next half to an hour my temperature went up to 39.5 and I felt dizzy and faint and was getting all sorts of stabbing pains all through my stomach and that went round to my back and down my legs. I rang the hospital and spoke to a nurse and she said it was normal for that to happen and was probably related to the exercise. I have had vaccines before and never had a reaction anything like that, so I there is a high possibility it was the exercise a heat combined with the vaccine that did it. Anyway my temperature sat on 39 for two days and I was bed riden, miserable and my eyes and face were puffy and my tongue a little swollen. My breathing was okay though so I didn't check myself into hospital as they said that it probably wasnt necessary and to take panadol and ride it out unless my breathing became difficult. It has been 3 days since that now, and my temperature has gone back to normal, but I am still feeling weak, a little unbalanced and dizzy at times, and can't do my normal everyday activities yet, but it is improving each day.
Going by my experience I definitely wouldn't recommend exercising too heavily after a vaccination.
Are flu shots a government conspiracy?
They are not a conspiracy in any negative way. The government does want citizens to take the flu shots, so they don't get sick with the flu. The flu kills, and also has economic impacts when workers are off sick and production goes down. There are good reasons to want people to take flu shots, which only help your body do what it would normally do anyway, except the vaccinations do it without making you sick in the process of creating the immunity.
When you get a vaccine can you get the virus?
There are a few circumstances that can create some risk of getting the virus, such as in people whose immune systems aren't working right (e.g., they recently had cancer chemotherapy or HIV or some other immuno-suppressive disorder). See the list of people in the related question below who should not get vaccinated with the types of vaccines that contain a live "attenuated" virus. Attenuated means weakened. When someone has a weak immune system, they may be susceptible to the weakened form of virus in the vaccine. But they would not be able to be sick from getting vaccines that contain "dead" viruses. With the flu vaccines, for example, the shots have dead viruses in them but the nasal mist has live attenuated viruses in it.
Sometimes. If the vaccine is a live attenuated (weakened) vaccine, then you get a dose of virions (viral particles/viruses) that are no longer dangerous to humans as they have been weakened so they can not make you sick. Other vaccines (such as Gardasil) are made with Virus-like particles (VLP) and these are just pieces of the virus (such as the envelope) not actually working and replicating viruses so they can not make you sick either.
Which countries use the BCG vaccine?
There are a variety of countries that use the BCG vaccine. Some of these countries are Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan and the Bahamas.
