Fighting Disease - Vaccination

Question 1

how do vaccinations work

Answer 1

they involve injecting small amounts of dead or inactive pathogens. These carry antigens, which cause your body to produce antibodies to attack them - even though the pathogen is harmless

Question 2

what is an example of a vaccine

Answer 2

the MMR vaccine which contains weakened versions of the viruses that causes measles, mumps and rubella all in one vaccine.

Question 3

what happens if live pathogens of same type appear after a vaccination

Answer 3

the white blood cells can rapidly mass-produce antibodies to kill of the pathogen.

Question 4

what do vaccinations stimulate white blood cells to produce

Answer 4

antibodies

Question 5

what are the advantages of vaccinations

Answer 5

1) helped control lots of communicable diseases that were once common in the UK e.g. MMR

2) big outbreaks of disease - called epidemics - can be prevented if a large percentage of the population is vaccinated are unlikely to catch the disease because there are fewer people able to pass it on

Question 6

what the disadvantages of vaccinations

Answer 6

1) vaccines do not always work - sometimes they do not give you immunity

2) you can sometimes have a bad reaction to a vaccine. e.g. swelling, fevers or seizures. But bad reactions are very rare