Episode 20 - How vaccines work
Dr Doug and Dave explain what vaccines are and how they work. Our immune systems are incredibly clever, they just need a little help now and again.
With several levels of defence, the human immune system is a formidable foe. This complicated system of cells and proteins can attack foreign invaders. And the antibodies we create can hunt those invaders down anywhere in the body.
Dr Doug describes antibodies like artillery. Wherever the target is, the antibody will search it out and their role is to combat the invading organism head-on. They’ll even kill cells if the virus has already infected them.
They then create antibodies. These have incredible memories and can identify the virus protein structure next time it appears – although this time, it’s ready to hit back harder and faster. Which is where vaccines come in.