1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to brainstud a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: vogelbaumb Here. We may not have flying cars or hoverboards yet, 3 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: but in some ways we truly live in the incredible future. 4 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,080 Speaker 1: For a trip or two to a healthcare professional and 5 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: a nominal amount of money, if any out of pocket, 6 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: we can prevent ourselves from getting sick. Vaccines are considered 7 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: the most successful medical advancement in the history of public health. 8 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:38,640 Speaker 1: Before vaccinations, diseases like smallpox, polio, and rebella killed or 9 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: paralyzed or caused serious birth defects regularly. These losses of 10 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: life and types of suffering are now preventable with extremely 11 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: small risk. A person born in the United States in 12 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: the year nineteen hundred had an average life expectancy of 13 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 1: forty seven years. As of twenty ten, it was seventy 14 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: eight years. That's not because most adults never reached old 15 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:06,639 Speaker 1: age in the past. It's because babies and toddlers died 16 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: way more often of diseases that we now vaccinate against. 17 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: So today, let's talk about vaccines and the basic science 18 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: behind how they prevent illness. We'll also go head to 19 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:23,040 Speaker 1: head with some of the common myths about vaccines. A 20 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: Vaccines work based on the fact that once a person 21 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: has caught a disease of some types, they'll probably be 22 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: immune to that disease for the rest of their life. 23 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: For example, once you've had chicken pox, it's extremely unlikely 24 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: that you'll ever catch it again. This is because your 25 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 1: body will recognize the disease and fight it off. This 26 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: happens thanks to a process called the immune response. The 27 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: beauty of vaccines is that they help your body develop 28 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: these disease recognizing abilities without you needing to get sick 29 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: in the first place. Here's how the immune response works. 30 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: When a virus or or bacteria enters your body under 31 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: normal circumstances, your immune system will identify it as a 32 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: potential threat, recognizable because it has molecules on its surface 33 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 1: called antigens. If your immune system identifies those antigens as 34 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,920 Speaker 1: being not from your own body and therefore potentially unsafe, 35 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 1: it'll launch an attack. Your immune system attacks by developing 36 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: invader specific proteins called antibodies that can destroy the antigen 37 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: than anything attached to it, or tag it for destruction 38 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: by immune system cells. After the battle, your immune system 39 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: will stockpile that antibody and remember how to identify that 40 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: antigen in most cases forever, so if your immune system 41 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: encounters antigens of the same type later on, it can 42 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 1: fight the disease off fast. Unfortunately, antibodies are really specific, 43 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 1: so if you've had chicken pox, for example, that's great 44 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: for preventing chicken pox, but useless against other diseases. When 45 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: a disease infects a person, the germs that cause it 46 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,800 Speaker 1: multiply thousands and thousands of times until a raging infection 47 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: is underway, which can have all kinds of unpleasant or 48 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: even deadly effects. A vaccine provides just enough antigens for 49 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: the body to recognize them and complete the immune response 50 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: process without causing an infection. Vaccines are able to provide 51 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: that goldilock zone of just enough antigens in two basic ways, 52 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: through weakened germs or through inactivated germs. Vaccines that use 53 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: weakened germs are also called live attenuated vaccines. Attenuated means weakened. 54 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: When this type of vaccine is created, the virus or 55 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:48,480 Speaker 1: bacteria is weakened in a lab to the point where 56 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: it's still kicking and able to reproduce, but it can't 57 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: cause serious illness. It might reproduce a couple dozen times 58 00:03:55,920 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: instead of thousands, but its presence is enough to cause 59 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: and complete the body's immune response. Live attenuated vaccines can 60 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: cause mild illness in some people, a low grade fever, 61 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: a runny nose, or a few chicken pox spots, but 62 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: it's maybe a day or two of discomfort, nothing compared 63 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:20,359 Speaker 1: to the full blown illness. To weaken the virus or bacteria, 64 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,480 Speaker 1: researchers take a specimen from an infected person. They then 65 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: grow the germ in a test tube, a tissue culture, 66 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:31,719 Speaker 1: a chicken egg, or some other foreign host. They pass 67 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: the germ into a second test tube or whatever, then 68 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,359 Speaker 1: a third, a fourth, and on and on. The measles 69 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:43,280 Speaker 1: virus was passed seventy seven times. Eventually, the germ gets 70 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,280 Speaker 1: so used to living in that comfortable test tube or 71 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,840 Speaker 1: other host environment that it loses its capacity to produce 72 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:54,839 Speaker 1: illness in living humans, but will still bear its identifying antigens. 73 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: Examples of live attenuated vaccines are those for MMR, that is, 74 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: the diesels mumps and rubella combo vaccine, chicken pox, and 75 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:07,719 Speaker 1: the entran nasal form of the flu vaccine. The other 76 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:13,160 Speaker 1: type of vaccines uses inactivated germs. In these, the virus 77 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: or bacteria has been rendered completely ineffective or dead, although 78 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,839 Speaker 1: one could argue that viruses aren't really alive to begin with. 79 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:26,839 Speaker 1: Researchers accomplish this with compounds like formaldehyde or detergents, which 80 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: are then separated out from the inactivated germs. Pieces of 81 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: the germs, including their antigens, go into the vaccine, which 82 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: can thus trigger the immune response with zero chance of 83 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 1: an actual infection. Unfortunately, the strength of these vaccines tends 84 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: to wear off over time, resulting in less long lasting immunity, 85 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 1: so multiple doses of inactivated vaccines are usually necessary to 86 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: provide the best protection. Examples of inactivated vaccines are those 87 00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: for heptitis A and B, polio, meningitis strip and and 88 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: the injected form of the flu vaccine. Inactivated vaccines are 89 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 1: preferable because they're safer, and most bacterial vaccines are this type, 90 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: but viruses often require live, attenuated vaccines because that's the 91 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: best we can do to fight them. There are some exceptions. 92 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 1: For example, rabies is a virus that's too dangerous to 93 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 1: give people in a week ined state because a Rabi's 94 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:27,720 Speaker 1: infection is always fatal in humans, so doctors don't want 95 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,480 Speaker 1: to take any risks. I'll have to do a whole 96 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 1: other episode on how vaccines are developed because it's a 97 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: big topic. But let's talk about what all goes into 98 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:40,599 Speaker 1: a vaccine other than the germ and or its antigen, 99 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: which could be considered the active ingredient. Every vaccine is 100 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 1: unique to the disease in question, but here's the gist. First, 101 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: many vaccines contain what's called adjuvants, which are helpful substances 102 00:06:55,600 --> 00:07:00,160 Speaker 1: that make the vaccine more effective. Very basically, adjuvants a 103 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: felly poke at your immune system to make it react 104 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:08,040 Speaker 1: more strongly to the mild threat that the vaccine poses. Next, 105 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 1: you've often got a stabilizer, which is a substance that 106 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: helps protect the active ingredient as it's stored and transported 107 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 1: in different temperatures and levels of jostle. Finally, when vials 108 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: of a vaccine contain multiple doses, a preservative or disinfectant 109 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:28,120 Speaker 1: is required. This is so that every time a dose 110 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:32,120 Speaker 1: is removed by needle, any microbe that, against all odds, 111 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: comes into the vial with that clean needle is killed 112 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:37,680 Speaker 1: in the vial and thus won't be able to cause 113 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: an infection in the person receiving the next dose of 114 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: the vaccine. All of these substances are thoroughly regulated to 115 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: ensure their safety in the amounts in which they're used. 116 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: Health experts recommend so many vaccines for babies and young 117 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 1: children because they're more risk for serious infections. It's a 118 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: little bit gruesome, but really important to under stand that 119 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,160 Speaker 1: the diseases that infants and children are vaccinated against today 120 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: are truly horrifying. For example, diphtheria, a nose and throat 121 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: infection that can cause difficulty breathing, heart failure, and paralysis 122 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: once killed over fifteen thousand children a year in the 123 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: US alone. Or take meningitis, an infection of the covering 124 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 1: around the brain and the spinal cord. Survivors can face 125 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: brain damage, deafness, and seizures. Polio once infected up to 126 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:33,560 Speaker 1: twenty thousand Americans a year, and survivors are often left 127 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:36,280 Speaker 1: paralyzed and dependent on mobility tools for the rest of 128 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: their lives. Measles doesn't just cause a rash, it can 129 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:45,200 Speaker 1: cause brain swelling and even death. Mumps can cause deafness 130 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: and brain damage, and rebella, which is often transmitted to 131 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: unborn fetuses during pregnancy, can cause miscarriages or premature births, 132 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: and birth defects in survivors. All of this is why 133 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: researchers have spent so much time, time, and effort and 134 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 1: money developing safe vaccines. Still, there's a lot of vaccine 135 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,760 Speaker 1: uncertainty out there right now, and a lot of concerns circulating, 136 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: which is fair and healthy. Asking questions is good. So 137 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: let's address a few of the common ones first. And 138 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: the elephant in the room is the concern that vaccines 139 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: might cause autism. This is, in essence, a lie that 140 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: was manufactured starting the nineteen nineties by this guy named 141 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: Andrew Wakefield, who was at that time a doctor. His 142 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: license has since been revoked. He got a study published 143 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:43,040 Speaker 1: in the renowned medical journal The Landset in nineteen ninety 144 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:47,559 Speaker 1: eight that supposedly linked the MMR vaccine to autism in children, 145 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: but when other doctors and researchers started looking at it, 146 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: they realized that Wakefield study didn't prove that at all. 147 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,000 Speaker 1: He had cherry picked his cases and didn't show any 148 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:02,600 Speaker 1: real evidence. The Landset retracted the study and apologized for 149 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:06,719 Speaker 1: printing it in twenty ten, but due to publicity. The 150 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 1: idea of the link still spread. The story even morphed 151 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:15,319 Speaker 1: from the supposed culprit being the MMR vaccine to thimerasol, 152 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:20,040 Speaker 1: which is a preservative that contains mercury. Lots and lots 153 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: of further studies have been done that have shown no 154 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 1: link between any vaccines and autism. Also, it later came 155 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:31,079 Speaker 1: out that Wakefield was poised to make tens of millions 156 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: of dollars a year on this diagnostic test that he 157 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:38,600 Speaker 1: had patented based on his falsified link. The whole thing 158 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:40,960 Speaker 1: has been called one of the most serious frauds in 159 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: medical history because it has made people feel less safe 160 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: about saving their children from these terrible diseases. If it helps. 161 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,520 Speaker 1: Amid all of this concern, vaccine makers have stopped using 162 00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: thimerasol in just about all vaccines, just to reassure people 163 00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:02,199 Speaker 1: that they're safe. Next step, let's talk about the concern 164 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 1: that vaccines are unnecessary because those diseases are pretty much 165 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: gone anyway. Unfortunately, the only vaccine preventable disease that's been 166 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 1: completely wiped out is smallpox. Other diseases can still spread 167 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:19,960 Speaker 1: through things like international travel that take measles. For example, 168 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:22,640 Speaker 1: It was considered gone from the US as of the 169 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: year two thousand, but as of September ninth, of twenty 170 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: twenty five, there have been one thy four hundred and 171 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 1: fifty four cases confirmed here this year, resulting in one 172 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: hundred and eighty hospitalizations and three deaths. Any deaths from 173 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: a preventable disease are too many. Another fair concern is 174 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 1: that babies are too fragile that their immune system is 175 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,600 Speaker 1: going to get overwhelmed by receiving so many vaccinations at once. 176 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,079 Speaker 1: But babies get an immune workout all the time on 177 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:57,679 Speaker 1: play dates, at church, at the grocery store. Vaccines can't 178 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:01,959 Speaker 1: overwhelm a functional immune system, and you would know there 179 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: would be signs or your health care provider would tell 180 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:08,199 Speaker 1: you if your kid was an exception. There are people 181 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,440 Speaker 1: who can't receive vaccines because of a weakened immune system, 182 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:15,840 Speaker 1: like some patients with cancer. That is part of why 183 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: public health experts want healthy adolescents and adults to stay 184 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:23,440 Speaker 1: up to date on their immunizations too. Vaccines prevent healthy 185 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: people from getting sick, which means, well, first off, we 186 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:31,040 Speaker 1: won't suffer the annoying to painful effects of illness, and 187 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:34,559 Speaker 1: we won't fall behind at home or at work. And 188 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: second of all, if we don't get sick, we won't 189 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 1: pass on an illness to someone more at risk for 190 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: severe symptoms, including death. Getting vaccinated can save a life. 191 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: It might be yours, it might be a loved ones. 192 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:52,719 Speaker 1: Insurance often covers them, and walking clinics often provide them 193 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:57,559 Speaker 1: for cheap Again, it's normal and good to have questions 194 00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:01,719 Speaker 1: or concerns, and please talk to a healthcare provider if 195 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,080 Speaker 1: you do. After all, at the end of the day, 196 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: I'm just a podcast host. Today's episode is based on 197 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: the article how vaccines Work on HowStuffWorks dot com, written 198 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 1: by Leah Hoy. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio 199 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by 200 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit 201 00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 202 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:27,520 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.