How vaccines work: how a shot trains your immune system
Clonal selection: how your body finds an antibody for a germ it never met
Your body can make antibodies against a germ that did not even exist when you were born, and no cell designs them. Clonal selection is how it works. It also explains why the first meeting with a germ can make you sick.
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1
Back at the clinic, Rono gives you a measles shot. Your old record is lost, and an extra measles shot does no harm, so this is the first of two. Your body needs a few weeks to build its defence, so you plan your visit for later.
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2
Inside your arm, the measles shape meets your B cells. They have never seen it before. And no B cell can look at a new shape and make an antibody to match it.
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