Topic 2C - Year 1 - Cells and the Immune System - Immunity and Vaccines Flashcards
What is active immunity?
Active immunity is the type of immunity you get when your body makes it’s own antibodies after being stimulated by and antigen.
What are the two types of active immunity?
natural
artificial
What is natural active immunity?
Natural active immunity is when you become immune after catching a disease and producing your own antibodies for it.
What is artificial active immunity?
Artificial active immunity is when you become immune after you have been given a vaccination containing a harmless does of antigen.
What is natural passive immunity?
Natural passive immunity , is when a baby becomes immune due to the antibodies it has received from its mother through the placenta.
What is artificial passive immunity ?
Artificial passive immunity is when you become immune because you are injected with antibodies from someone else.
What do vaccines do?
Vaccines contain antigens that cause your body to form T and B memory cells without the pathogen causing disease . This means a vaccine makes you immune without giving you any symptoms.
What is meant by herd immunitty?
If a large percentage of a population are vaccinated against a disease and thus immune they reduce the occurrence of the disease , less people suffer from the disease and thus even those who are not vaccinated are at a reduced risk of getting the disease as it becomes less common.
Why are most vaccines injected and not taken orally?
Most vaccines are injected and not taken orally as enzymes in the digestive system may break the vaccine down before it has chance to take effect , also the molecules within the vaccine taken orally may be too large to diffuse into the blood.
Why are there ethical issues surrounding vaccines?
There are ethical issues surrounding vaccines as vaccines must be tested on animals before they are tested on humans
Plus, testing vaccines on humans can be very risky
Some people may not want to take a vaccine because of potential side effects but will still be protected by herd immunity , some people believe that this is unfair.
If there was an epidemic there may be a rush for vaccination and decisions on who to receive it first would have to be made.
