Measles vaccination for children
Although measles is a typical childhood disease, adults who do not have sufficient vaccination protection can be infected quickly. People who work with children in kindergartens, schools, daycare centers or elsewhere are particularly at risk. Clinic personnel are also recommended to be vaccinated regularly. In contrast to children, a single injection of the vaccine is sufficient for most adults to ensure adequate protection.
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Most vaccinations do not provide full protection immediately after the first vaccination, but only after two or three times and others require a lifelong booster at certain intervals such as tetanus and diphtheria. But what is the reason for this? The answer lies in our immune system.
It is designed in such a way that it reacts a little sluggishly on first contact with a pathogen and cannot fight the intruder as effectively and quickly as it can in subsequent infections with the same pathogen. In addition to the antigen (that which the body has recognized as “foreign”, e.g. bacterium or virus), a suitable antibody must first be found with which the enemy can be fought. This takes a few days.
Once the pathogen has been defeated, memory cells are formed which remember the pathogen exactly and recognize it in a second infection. The immune response is now much faster and stronger, since the matching antibody does not have to be searched for first, but is already available. Moreover, it can then be produced on a mass scale.
Exactly this situation is simulated to the body during a booster vaccination. First a basic immunization is performed (first vaccination) and then the secondary response is induced by a further administration of antigen. This leads to the result that very many antibodies are produced very quickly and are thus available for a potential infection. Should an infection actually occur, the intruder has no chance of establishing itself in the body, because the body immediately recognizes it and can react to it in sufficient numbers.
