COVID-19 Vaccine, The Safe Way to Build Protection
If you have already received the COVID-19 vaccine, good job for you! If you have not gotten the vaccine, go get your first shot! But, if you are the one who not sure about getting vaccinated, or keep questioning “Is the vaccine safe enough for my body?”, you can consider these benefits that vaccines could provide you.
But, before we explain more about the vaccine, let me introduce you to this virus. COVID-19 or Coronavirus Disease 2019 that has been a pandemic for more than a year, is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Basically, the character of SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped, positive-sense, and single-stranded RNA beta-coronavirus. It has a specific protein on the surface named spike-glycoprotein that binds to the host and injects their genetic material, called RNA (Lotfi et al., 2020).
SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted by the exposure of the infectious respiratory fluids such as the droplets or aerosol particles from the infected people. This virus commonly attacks on respiratory organs. The symptoms are recognized as fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, anosmia, or various depends on person’s immunity (CDC, 2021).
So, how we protect ourselves from this virus? Let’s talk about COVID-19 vaccine. Why should we get it?
Vaccine is a biological preparation that stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies to a specific or certain disease. Now, COVID-19 vaccine contains the harmless material from the virus like mRNA or the protein or it can be a modified version of viral vectors. Although, the scientists, the researchers, and the experts are still learning a lot about the COVID-19 vaccines, but there are some clear benefits we can get after getting vaccinated.
- The vaccine could reduce the risk of infection.
How does it happen? Once we get our first shot, the body begins to produce antibodies to attack the virus. On other times if we get exposed to the virus, the antibodies are automatically ready to help our bodies to attack virus, so it reduces the chances of us getting infected.
- The vaccine could protect us from the severe illness.
Yes. This is absolutely the fact. The vaccines are effective in preventing the severe illness from COVID-19. It is the truth that if we’re getting vaccinated we can still become infected. But, as the studies have shown, the vaccinated people who get infected by COVID-19 will only have mild to moderate cases. So, the possibility of being hospitalized or even death is clearly low.
- The vaccine is a safer way to build protection.
Minister for Health Indonesia, Mr. Budi Gunadi Sadikin said when 70 % population of Indonesian citizens has been vaccinated, the chance of us to get “herd immunity” is high. By getting vaccinated not only to reduce the rate of infection but also contribute to build our community protection and reduce the viral transmission (Kemkes, 2021).
So, people may ask, how does the vaccine actually work?
First, we need to understand that our bodies have different types of white blood cells to help us fight infection, such as B-lymphocytes and T-lymphocytes. B-lymphocytes produce antibodies, then T-lymphocytes are responsible as the memory cells also attack on the infected cells.
Once we get the vaccine, the vaccine will help our immune system to prepare and develop B-lymphocytes and T-lymphocytes. So, if we get exposed to the virus in the future, the T-lymphocytes will go into action quickly and B-lymphocytes will produce antibodies to attack the virus. So, the main purpose is the vaccines will help our immune system to attack the virus without us having to get the illness (CDC, 2021).
There are several types of vaccines with various efficacies that we can get in Indonesia, like AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Sinopharm, Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax (CNN, 2021). Sometimes after vaccination, we may feel the symptoms like fever, cold, or inflammation but that is normal as the sign of the body is building the immunity.
So, everyone, what are you waiting for? Let’s get vaccinated! If you are not vaccinated yet, go find a vaccine!
Don’t forget to keep campaigning and promoting to people around us about “how important is getting vaccinated”. With healthy mind and healthy body, we can enhance our immunity so we can do anything together again.
References:
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Benefits of Getting Vaccinated. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/vaccine-benefits.html . Diakses 4 Agustus 2021.
CNN. (2021). 6 Jenis Vaksin Covid yang Ditetapkan Pemerintah. https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20201213111723-23-581467/infografis-6-jenis-vaksin-covid-yang-ditetapkan-pemerintah. Diakses 4 Agustus 2021.
Kementerian Kesehatan RI. (2021). Apa itu Herd Immunity (Kekebalan Kelompok) ? .https://infeksiemerging.kemkes.go.id/uncategorized/apa-itu-herd-immunity-kekebalan-kelompok. Diakses 4 Agustus 2021.
Lotfi, Melika, Michael Hamblin dan Nima. (2020). COVID-19: Transmission, prevention, and potential therapeutic opportunities. Clinical Clim Acta, 508: 254–266.
