Reflecting on the lesson
Choose one concept in our lesson today, give a brief explanation about the concept and cite how would you apply this learning in your everyday life.
"A DOSE OF REALITY"
The moment we're conceived and come out of our mother's womb, we are already exposed to potential dangers and we become susceptible in acquiring diseases. This is where we see the significance of immunization, which is first given after birth. Before the creation of vaccines, many children died from diseases that are now preventable due to the power of vaccination. It reduces the risk of infection and acquiring life-threathening disabilities by working on body's natural defenses. Using this perspective, we can appreciate the role that the lymphatic system plays not just as the "catch basin," returning leaked fluids back to the cardiovascular system, but also plays an integral role in body’s immunity.
When I was a child and we did our check-ups, I always got immunized, and these are all recorded in the baby book. Back then, I had very limited understanding as to how they worked, only knowing that "it would keep me healthy and away from acquiring diseases". Fastforward to the present, and the need to get immunized against hepatitis B, TDaP, influenza, and other diseases resurfaces as our preparation for clinical duty and to better improve our immunity. Through this course, I realized that vaccines are considered humoral immunity, specifically an artificially acquired active immunity. As an overview, this (vaccine) triggers immune responses by mimicking viral infections, which are normally inactivated subviral particles.
These aforementioned particles have foreign antigens, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuroaminidase (NA), which are released into the bloodstream. This is the time when these particles are mediated by immune cells such as macrophages, T cells, and B cells. Macrophages engulf and break down HA. HA antigen will be displayed to surface with the MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) receptor, where the T cell will bind, be activated, and proliferate into either cytotoxic, regulatory suppressor, or helper T cells. The helper T cells help in generating antibodies and activating memory B cells. Memory B cells are important as they help in future immune responses when we're exposed to an active virus again. This explains how HA and antibodies block the viral attachment of live viruses, making our bodies avoid or diminish the disease. The same mechanism applies to the very recent vaccines created to fight coronavirus. When we're vaccinated, it will help us create an immune response, which will eliminate the chance of getting severe illness or post-COVID conditions.
As a student nurse, I see the essence of understanding the mechanisms of vaccines in triggering body immune responses. I will carry this knowledge to my future profession when I get to administer injections or whenever I receive my yearly flu shots. This makes me very thankful specifically to my memory B cells for any future immune responses, and to my overall lymphatic system as the reason for "keeping me healthy and immune".
REFERENCE:
Mechanisms in Medicine. (2020). Vaccines and the Immune Response: How Vaccines Work. YouTube. Retrieved November 23, 2023, from https://youtu.be/Atrx1P2EkiQ?si=UqdkxLyyPpE9n4qU.