H1N1 Vaccine Ingredients

A vaccine is a medicine given to make the immune system resistant to a specific infection. After administering the vaccine, the body becomes immune to that infection. One of the most important ingredient of any vaccine is the virus itself. However, the virus that is introduced into the body is either dead or extremely weak. In other words, the virus administered is incapable of causing any infection. Upon injecting the virus, the immune system immediately generates antibodies that are specifically made to combat the virus. H1N1 vaccine that has been recently developed to protect people from swine flu infection is a bit unknown in terms of its ingredients.

H1N1 Vaccines
After the widespread breakout of H1N1 flu in 2009, quite a few pharmaceutical companies have come up with a preparation of H1N1 vaccine. The vaccines that are being developed today are all egg based. As eggs are utilized for the production of this vaccine, people allergic to eggs are advised to consult a doctor before getting vaccinated.

Ingredients in H1N1 Vaccine
As aforementioned, virus is present in vaccines and this is also applicable to H1N1 vaccine. So, it won't be wrong to say that the vaccine has the H1N1 virus (dead or attenuated). Keep in mind that it is next to impossible to get affected with H1N1 from vaccination. This is because, the vaccine contains inactive virus and so, contracting the infection is out of question.

The two primary ingredients that are mixed together before administering H1N1 are the antigen and the adjuvant agent. These two crucial drugs form an integral part of any vaccine. The function and composition of these two important substances are given below:

The Antigen
An antigen, also referred as an antibody generator, is a substance, exposure to which stimulates the immune system to manufacture antibodies. These antibodies produced are considered as soldiers of our body and are effective in defending specific type of infection. The antigen is made up of:

• Water
• Thimerosal
• Sodium chloride
• Potassium dihydrogen phosphate
• Disodium hydrogen phosphate
• Potassium chloride
• Sodium deoxycholate
• Formaldehyde

Although, the vaccine does contain egg, the content of egg protein in antigen is found to be very less. Also, thimerosal in antigen acts as great preservative and prevents the vaccine from microbial decay. Thimerosal is basically made up of mercury and other organic compounds and is also found in other prescription drugs.

The Adjuvant
The adjuvant enhances the effect of antigen. This is the reason why adjuvant is added to antigen at the time of administration. In other words, the adjuvant helps the antigen to perform its task more effectively. One can say that it facilitates the action of antigen to make the vaccine formulation more destructive against viruses. Following are the components of an adjuvant:

• Squalene (Shark liver oil)
• DL-alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E)
• Polysorbate 80 (an emulsifier)

A point to note is, that though H1N1 vaccine greatly decreases the chances of contracting the deadly infection, it has to be taken in the right dosage. As 'thimerosal containing mercury' is found in the H1N1 vaccine, overdose can expose the body to high levels of mercury, which can be life-threatening. So, to be on the safer side, consult a qualified doctor who has been licensed to carry out H1N1 vaccination.