b"vaccines& interview with La Salle Academy Healthy News reporters.Q A Dr. Feemster answered questions about vaccines during an The interview has been edited lightly and shortened. Question: Please explain what you dovaccine check for any problems thatyou got the vaccine. Sometimes you at Merck. people might report.can get redness, swelling, and it can Dr. Feemster: I work on a team that isQuestion: What happens in yourhurt, but that is a sign that the vaccine responsible for learning what we needbody when you get a vaccine? is doing its job. to know to make and introduce newQuestion: What happens when you vaccines all over the world. We haveDr. Feemster: It often may go intodont get a vaccine?to learn about different infectiousyour muscle, right under your skin or diseases, how often they happen, andit can be inhaled in your nose or takenDr. Feemster: If you don't get whom they affect. This helps us knowby mouth. When your body sees thea vaccine, then you may not be the best way to prevent them.vaccine, your immune system sendsprotected if you are exposed to that signals and tells your body to makegerm. And you may be more likely to Question: What is a vaccine and whysome antibodies. The antibodiesget sick.is it important? travel through your bloodstream. If its injected into your muscle, it usuallyQuestion: How do doctors decide Dr. Feemster: A vaccine is somethingwhen and at what age people should that helps teach your body howdoesn't even have to go very far toget a certain vaccine? to protect itself against differentstart working in your immune system. infections. A vaccine exposes yourVaccines also help your immuneDr. Feemster: The people who make body to a very small piece of that virussystem make cells that rememberdecisions about when people should or bacterianot enough to make youthe germ if you are exposed to it.be vaccinated think about when kids sick but just enough to turn on yourThen you can make new antibodies toor adults are most at risk of being immune system to make antibodies.protect yourself from infection. infected by a virus or bacteria. The antibodies protect you in caseQuestion: Why are you sometimesQuestion: What else should children you're exposed to that infection. sore the next day after you get aknow about vaccines?Question: How do people make surevaccine? Dr. Feemster: I think it is important that the vaccines are safe?Dr. Feemster: The reason you're sorethat we have good information about Dr. Feemster: Safety is an importantis because you are activating yourvaccines so that we can help address part of vaccine development fromimmune system. It can make you feelconcerns to people who are worried the beginning. People working on thea little bit sore right in the area whereabout them.DID YOUMeasles is a virus. It causes high fever, rash, makes your eyes red, and KNOW? can sometimes cause swelling around the brain. The introduction of a measles vaccine essentially eliminated the disease in the United States. Here are some vaccine A booster is another name for a vaccine shot. As you get older, the facts from Dr. Feemster protection from a first vaccine shot might go down a little bit. The booster shot is another vaccine dose that reminds your body to make more antibodies for protection.Epidemiology is the pattern of a disease in a community that tells you who gets sick and when. Babies get vaccines in their legs because they have a little more muscle there.F a l l 2 0 2 4 | H E A L T H Y N E W S W O R K S . O R G9"