Why does immunity to pathogens that our parents are already immune to have to still be aquired later on in life through infections and shots and not just be inherited through genetics?
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Immunity isn’t exactly based on genetics (actually it is, but we’ll get back to that). What I mean is, there isn’t a gene that make you immune to a disease and lacking that gene would make you susceptible to that disease. Instead, immunity is based off of your immune cells and their ability to recognize certain molecular patterns. You’re probably thinking “Why wouldn’t this be a gene that can be inherited” and that’s a good thought. Think of it this way, if immunity was based solely on inheriting certain genes, how would you ever develop an immune response to a brand new pathogen, like the one the world discovered in 2019. Your immune system needs to be able to identify never before seen molecular patterns as well as familiar molecular patterns.
The way this is accomplished is by giving some of your immune cells “permission” to mix up specific parts of their DNA associated with their recognition sequences. These randomized cells are then screened against all of the signatures that you make naturally to prevent your immune cells from attacking yourself ( an autoimmune disorder is when this screening process is broken). The randomized immune cells are then pumped into your system, where they may or may not encounter a foreign pattern that they recognize. If they do encounter such a pattern, this triggers a replication process resulting in more of the immune weapons needed to fight the encountered pathogen.
So, in short, it is exactly the reason why you cannot inherit immunity from your parents that makes your immune system so powerful
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