Let's talk vaccines: ᵂʰᵃᵗ ᵃʳᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ⁱⁿᵍʳᵉᵈⁱᵉⁿᵗˢ ⁱⁿ ᵃ ᵛᵃᶜᶜⁱⁿᵉ?

Vaccines contain tiny fragments of the disease-causing organism or the blueprints for making the tiny fragments. They also contain other ingredients to keep the vaccine safe and effective. These latter ingredients are included in most vaccines and have been used for decades in billions of doses of vaccines.

Each vaccine component serves a specific purpose, and each ingredient is tested in the manufacturing process. All ingredients are tested for safety.

𝙰𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚐𝚎𝚗

All vaccines contain an active component (the antigen) which generates an immune response, or the blueprint for making the active component. The antigen may be a small part of the disease-causing organism, like a protein or sugar, or it may be the whole organism in a weakened or inactive form.

𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜

Preservatives prevent the vaccine from becoming contaminated once the vial has been opened, if it will be used for vaccinating more than one person. The most commonly used preservative is 2-phenoxyethanol. It has been used for many years in a number of vaccines, is used in a range of baby care products and is safe for use in vaccines, as it has little toxicity in humans.

𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚛𝚜

Stabilizers prevent chemical reactions from occurring within the vaccine and keep the vaccine components from sticking to the vaccine vial. Stabilizers can be sugars (lactose, sucrose), amino acids (glycine), gelatin, and proteins (recombinant human albumin, derived from yeast).

𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚜

Surfactants keep all the ingredients in the vaccine blended together. They prevent settling and clumping of elements that are in the liquid form of the vaccine. They are also often used in foods like ice cream.

𝚁𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚜

Residuals are tiny amounts of various substances used during manufacturing or production of vaccines that are not active ingredients in the completed vaccine. Substances will vary depending on the manufacturing process used and may include egg proteins, yeast, or antibiotics. Residual traces of these substances which may be present in a vaccine are in such small quantities that they need to be measured as parts per million or parts per billion.

𝙳𝚒𝚕𝚞𝚎𝚗𝚝

A diluent is a liquid used to dilute a vaccine to the correct concentration immediately prior to use. The most commonly used diluent is sterile water.

𝙰𝚍𝚓𝚞𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚝

Some vaccines also contain adjuvants. An adjuvant improves the immune response to the vaccine, sometimes by keeping the vaccine at the injection site for a little longer or by stimulating local immune cells.

The adjuvant may be a tiny amount of aluminium salts (like aluminium phosphate, aluminium hydroxide, or potassium aluminium sulphate). Aluminium has been shown not to cause any long-term health problems, and humans ingest aluminium regularly through eating and drinking.

Once a vaccine is in use, it must be continuously monitored to make sure it continues to be safe.

{You can find all the sources I used by clicking here.}