E.g. if a woman has a tetanus shot, why does the kid need one? If she has an mmr shot, why does her child need to get one? If the lady also has a shot immunizing herself from chicken-pox, why isn’t the child also immune from chicken-pox?
Wouldn’t the child be immune from the diseases/ sicknesses that the mother already got her shots for?
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In order for the child to receive lasting immunity, they must produce antibodies. They only do that when exposed to the thing (antigen) that they are trying to react to.
If the mother got immunized long ago, she likely no longer has the antigen (material that caused her to make the antibodies) in her system. Even if exposed, her body would remove it — she’s got antibodies against it, after all, and that’s what they do.
The child CAN benefit a little from their mother’s immunity. A child that receives breast milk can receive antibodies from the mother which can fight disease. Some gets digested, but some gets into the blood. The mother’s antibodies will target the antigen, but they can’t train the body to make it’s own antibodies against it. For that, the body needs the antigen to learn to make antibodies against it. The antibodies from the milk simply give the child a leg up in fighting infection while their own immune system learns to make antibodies on it’s own.
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