A child in India is being vaccinated against polio.

A vaccination is a treatment which makes the body stronger against an infection.

The body fights infections using the immune system, which is made up of millions upon millions of cells including T cells and B cells. An important part of the adaptive immune system is that it is much stronger when fighting a disease that it has already fought against before. Vaccination involves showing the immune system something which looks very similar to a particular virus or bacteria, which helps the immune system be stronger when it is fighting against the real infection.