Sup y’all.
I’ve had a Chicken Pox/Varicella shot when I was very young,prior to like 3.Today I’m 24 and apparently that shot lasts for 25 years.
I’ve always heard that it “gets stronger” as you age.
I’ve had a shot,have or had my immune system clearly make some sort of defense against it so how it’s stronger when my system is made to react against it?
Thanks!
In: Biology
Chicken pox doesn’t “get stronger” so much as you get bigger. When you have a 5-year-old covered with chicken pox, that’s a certain amount of skin that’s in pain. At 24, you’ve got a lot more skin than that. That gives the disease more area to spread out on and cause pain. You won’t like that, not even a little. Get the shot.
Your immune system doesn’t always make the same antibodies forever. After a while it decides to focus resources on dealing with the viruses you see, like the flu, and the chicken pox antibodies can go “out of production” to make capacity for more frequently seen challenges.
By the way, when you’re 55, you’ll get the “Shingles Shot” (actually 2 of them) and that’s also to deal with the virus that causes Chicken Pox. For some reason, older people get a different symptoms that hurts even more.
Very short answer: your ability to respond to a vaccine improves with age (and eventually declines again, too!).
Slightly longer answer: many components of the immune system develop over time, especially the first few years of your life. Many common vaccines like the one for chickenpox that are given to children are also tailored to their capability to respond to it. I’m not an expert on vaccines in particular but the immune system is highly dynamic.
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