vaccinations

     Vaccinations have been around for more than 200 years. They have eliminated some of the diseases that used to kill people. Every year, or every few years, there would be an outbreak of disease that would kill at least some of the people--especially children who hadn't been exposed to the disease before. Diseases for which we now have vaccinations--diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, measles, smallpox, typhus, cholera, and others--all killed people on a regular basis. These diseases are just as deadly today--they can kill people, or leave them blind, deaf, or physically disabled. So many people are vaccinated for these diseases that a real outbreak or epidemic probably could not happen--too many people would make a "brake" on the spread of the disease.
    A vaccination is a simple idea. The patient to be vaccinated is injected with some of the actually disease--but the disease is dead. The patient's own body then becomes immune to the disease by producing antibodies, using its own immune system. Since the disease is dead, the patient does not become sick.