Question: I am realy scared of vaccinations but i need one to go to china in the summer. could you please tell me more about them so that i know what they actually do.Is my feer irrational?

Amy MacQueen answered on 21 Jun 2011:

Hey fang!

Your fear of pain is not irrational because injections hurt right? So dont worry about being scared of something! Some people are also very scared of needles – maybe the extent to which they are afraid is irrational but the fear of pain itself isn’t. It stops you getting badly hurt the rest of the time! 🙂

So…what do vaccinations actually do? well they protect you against getting badly ill when you visit another country or from diseases that used to be common here in the UK. This is a good thing because it is scarier to get a life threatening disease in another country than a small injection right? Vaccines work by stimulating your immune system so that it is ready to fight the bug the next time it sees it. It can do this by injecting a tiny amount of the bug into you – not enough to make you sick but enough to get your immune system activated. The body then stores this information as “memory” so if, when in China, you are exposed to the disease it says “hey, i’ve seen this before!! i know what to do!” and stops you getting sick! Its amazing really!

Sometimes vaccinations can make you feel a little under the weather – like your arm might go a bit stiff and sore (if thats where you get injected) but it will only last a day or so and then you will be right as rain! so don’t worry about it and if you want to know more just ask!

🙂