Mother’s milk – Our first vaccination

A mother's antibodies passed on to her baby may be the main reason childhood vaccinations have been so successful and why science has battled so long, and with little success, to tackle chronic infections and tumours in adults, according to a leading immunologist. Laureate Professor Rolf Zinkernagel, who completed his Nobel Prize winning research at The John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) at The Australian National University, says high levels of antibodies passed on to children by their mothers may help with the effectiveness of childhood vaccines. "Protection against infections seems to depend on pre-existing antibodies at the time of infection. So if we don't have any naturally occurring antibodies our immune system struggles to fight the infection. This has serious implications for how we think about old vaccines and how we apply ourselves to discovering new ones," Professor Zinkernagel said. Professor Zinkernagel is joined in the JCSMR Director's 'Health through Discovery' Public Lecture Series by his colleague Laureate Professor Peter Doherty, with whom he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their immunological studies. The pair are in Canberra to contribute to the city's centenary celebrations.