What is immunity?

Immunity is the capacity of the human body to defend itself against substances or infections…

… such as parasites, bacteria or viruses that can make us ill.

When we say someone is “immunized” against a disease, that means they can’t catch it any more.

But how do you become “immunized”?

From birth, our body defends itself against intruders: it stops them from getting in, destroys them or gets rid of them.

The body is also capable of making new defenses throughout our lives: that’s “acquired immunity”.

This can develop after coming into contact with bacteria or a virus.

The body’s immune system produces antibodies; microscopic soldiers that fight the intruder.

If the intruder tries to get into the body again, it is recognized and eliminated before it can take hold!

To help our immune system make antibodies without us getting sick, we inject small doses of dead or weak microbes.

That’s how vaccines work. They allow people to be immunized against many different diseases.

Today, scientists are trying to find a vaccine against the coronavirus Covid-19.

That will help stop the epidemic without having to wait for most of the world population to be immunized “naturally”.