- So what are vaccines?

- Think about it like this.

Vaccines contain proteins or parts of bacteria or viruses that essentially teach your immune system how to defend against those bugs should you ever run into them?

(bright music) Here's an analogy.

I want you to imagine a fierce football game.

All right?

You got the defense and you got the offense.

(whistle blows) Now the defense stole the other team's playbook.

Ah, one of them.

- Ahead of time.

One of them, right?

- All right.

- They stole the other team's playbook.

So the offense shows up and they're like, "Dude, we got these awesome plays."

They're like interception, interception, interception.

And the offense is like, ah.

- What?

Good bye.

- The vaccine preventable diseases just can't even touch us because our immune systems are already ready.

- Ahead of the game.

That should be the name of the mini documentary about vaccines.

(dramatic music) - Who you essentially are.

Because think about it like this.

There's many types of vaccines, but they really fall into a few broad categories.

You can have these small proteins of a bacteria virus.

You can have a killed version of the bug, or you can have a weakened version of it.

So there are some vaccines which we call live vaccine because you're actually going to get the actual bug, but a much, much, much, much weaker version of it.

And those are like mumps, measles, rubella, rotavirus, chickenpox.

And those are so weak that you're not actually gonna get the real infection.

You may, you know, child may have like some feeling kind of sick, maybe like some very light symptoms for a day or two.

But the reason I bring up the live vaccines is because in children who have a weakened immune system, so they're immunocompromised, maybe they have cancer.

Maybe they're on certain medications.

They have should always chat with their doctor before getting live vaccines.

Remember, there's a difference between the vaccines, which made of parts of the bug, a killed a version and then live.

They're all - They're different.

- different.

- Okay.

- And then there are RNA vaccines, vaccines that trigger an immune response by teaching our cells to make a protein or a piece of a protein.

And these are some of the new vaccines coming out to protect us against COVID-19.

They contain genetic material known as messenger RNA, or mRNA.

The mRNA in these vaccines is essentially the recipe for a protein that's part of the little spike that sticks out of the coronavirus.

The production of that protein in the body triggers an immune response, which leads to the production of antibodies.

Those antibodies are what will detect and destroy the virus if we ever encounter the real thing.

It's like the mRNAs vaccines are making a wanted poster.

And the main suspect is the spike protein.

- All right.

Tell me this, buddy.

Can I call you buddy?

- I'll be your buddy.

- Tell me why a vaccine doesn't make you sick.

- So let's go back to the kind of broad categories of vaccines.

So you have a vaccine where it's like parts of the bug, you know, maybe a couple of proteins, and then you have a killed version - A killed version.

- of the bacteria or virus.

So it's dead - A departed version.

- A departed version.

- Departed.

- A rest in peace version.

So these two types can not get you sick because the infection is not actually active.

A vector is not going to come alive.

And then you have other vaccines which are live attenuated vaccine.

So what that basically means is you take the bug, and it's altered in such a way where it's basically completely useless.

And mRNA vaccines can't make you sick either because they don't contain the live virus, which causes COVID-19.

Now some recipients of the mRNA and coronavirus vaccines experience symptoms like soreness, muscle aches, fever, and fatigue.

And at least for adults, it looks like these symptoms might be a bit more common than with the flu vaccine.

But here's an important note.

Rather than call these adverse side effects.

Some of these symptoms should be thought of as a normal immune response to the vaccine.

They're a sign that your immune system is working.

So far these symptoms are all resolved within a few days.

And we haven't seen any evidence that there are any long-term side effects from the coronavirus vaccine.

I should add this is all based on clinical trials, where the vaccines were tested on adults, sometimes adolescents as young as 12, but we don't yet have data on how children are going to react to these vaccines.

- I know vaccines cause side effects like soreness and like the sniffles and.

- Feeling crummy.

- Little fevers, yeah.

But I think some parents are worried about way stronger side effects.

Those are pretty rare, right?

- So they're extremely rare.

Going back like what you mentioned earlier about fussiness, a sore arm, pain at the injection site, like maybe a fever for a day or two, that happens in a smaller percentage of kids.

I do see them.

The vast majority of the time they resolve.

And there's no issue.

The really rare side effects are actually so rare that we statistically can't say definitively that it's because of the vaccine.

- Okay.

- But we do take them seriously when they're reported, but here's the issue.

Those are the stories that people will share and talk about on the internet.

And I have never seen a very dangerous side effect from a vaccine ever, but guess what?

If you have questions about any of this, chat with your doctor.

Call and look and ask him all the questions you want.

His number is... (laughs) Okay, the flu mutates.

It flutates, flutations.

That's why you need new flu shots every year.

'Cause of flutations.

- I got nothing.

- You can have that.

You can use that.

- It flutates.

(revving music) (bright music)