>> There is literally nothing a vaccine can “do” that the immune system doesn’t already do.<<
The circumstances are not the same.
Environmental exposure to a pathogen gets filtered, ameliorated and changed before the various components of the immune system even see it.
Vaccines are administered in a number of different ways, often intramuscularly. In a natural infection, by the time the macrophages, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, dendritic cells, antibodies and a host of other proteins get exposure things are different.
Think of an infection as siege on a fortress. The bad guys are bashing against the walls and lots of boiling oil(macrophages) have already been used and the messengers have gone out, the walls are under attack!
The vaccine is helicoptering in the bad guys right to the king’s chambers. Sure, the guards will show up and learn what to do, but the king may just decide the castle is lost and nuke it from orbit, just to be sure. We had to destroy the castle just to save it.
Not to mention the dosing. Dumping an adult sized Hep B vax into a toddler might just send the king on a permanent vacation(Autism).
Vaccines have a place. Randomly dumping a bunch of novel appearing “pathogens” into immature immune systems probably needs to be re-thought out a bit.
The circumstances are not the same.
That is correct. The circumstances of having an active pathogen growing and reproducing in the body are entirely different than being exposed to a tiny inert piece of pathogen.
Environmental exposure to a pathogen gets filtered, ameliorated and changed before the various components of the immune system even see it.
???
The reason pathogens are pathogens is that they have evolved mechanisms of avoiding the innate immune system. This is the part of the immune system that generally recognizes viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc. and acts against them. It eliminates most microorganisms without you ever knowing they entered your body. But pathogens can avoid it, that's how they make you sick.
Vaccines are administered in a number of different ways, often intramuscularly. In a natural infection, by the time the macrophages, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, dendritic cells, antibodies and a host of other proteins get exposure things are different.
Well, at least you have memorized some of the immune system components.
In a natural infection, your immune system is in a race against the pathogen. It takes about two weeks for the immune system to analyze the pathogen and develop specific antibodies to fight it. With some pathogens, like rhinovirus (causes colds), your body always wins the race (unless you have impaired immunity). With other pathogens, like the rabies species of rhabdovirus, your body will not win the race.
Think of an infection as siege on a fortress. The bad guys are bashing against the walls and lots of boiling oil(macrophages) have already been used and the messengers have gone out, the walls are under attack!
The vaccine is helicoptering in the bad guys right to the king’s chambers. Sure, the guards will show up and learn what to do, but the king may just decide the castle is lost and nuke it from orbit, just to be sure. We had to destroy the castle just to save it.
Very fanciful, but very much not what happens at all.
The vaccine teaches your immune system how to make antibodies against whatever pathogen the vaccine is designed to counter. It also teaches T-cells and B-cells to recognize the pathogen, but when we (scientists) are talking about protection against disease, we focus on the antibodies. This is because antibody activity is directly measurable.
A vaccine is NOT some kind of drug that sits around in your body just in case its pathogen shows up. It is NOT a shield or a weapon. It IS a training aid that teaches your immune system what to do if it encounters the real pathogen. The vaccine disappears within days of administration, but the antibody production goes on for months once initiated.
Not to mention the dosing. Dumping an adult sized Hep B vax into a toddler might just send the king on a permanent vacation(Autism).
I can't really predict the effects of administering an adult dose to a toddler, but I did find this article, Mix-Ups Between Doses of Children and Adult Vaccines which suggests that children need higher doses of vaccine to train their immune systems. So, if a child received an adult dose by mistake, they might not have an adequate immune response. The reason adults would need a smaller dose is that adults have likely already received the vaccine at some point, so that the vaccine isn't training from scratch, but simply giving the immune system a reminder that it should keep up the antibody production.
As for the autism claim, that has been debunked so many times that I am surprised that people still pull it out. Vaccines DO NOT travel through time to change the neurodevelopment genes in the ovum or sperm in such a way that the conceived child would develop autism. Vaccines don't affect genes anyway, even if they could travel through time. Vaccines have a place. Randomly dumping a bunch of novel appearing “pathogens” into immature immune systems probably needs to be re-thought out a bit.