Vaccinations

Question 1

What is a vaccination?

Answer 1

Vaccinations involve making an individual immune to a certain disease.

Question 2

Why do people get vaccinations?

Answer 2

So that they are protected against it before they have been infected.

Question 3

What is herd immunity?

Answer 3

By immunising a large proportion of the population, the spread of the pathogen is reduced as there are less people to catch disease from.

Question 4

What happens when you are infected with a pathogen?

Answer 4

You feel ill until white blood cells manufacture the correct specific antibody to combat it.

This process involves the immune response where the body recognizes and fights off foreign invaders.

Question 5

How do white blood cells respond to a secondary infection?

Answer 5

Antibodies can be produced much quicker, allowing the pathogen to be destroyed before it can cause disease.

This rapid response is due to the memory of the immune system from the first encounter with the pathogen.

Question 6

What is the purpose of vaccinations?

Answer 6

Vaccinations replicate the first infection so that exposure to the real disease does not cause symptoms.

This mechanism prepares the immune system to respond effectively to actual infections.

Question 7

True or False: Vaccinations make you feel symptoms of the disease.

Answer 7

False

Vaccinations are designed to stimulate an immune response without causing the disease itself.

Question 8

Fill in the blank: Upon a secondary infection, antibodies can be produced by white blood cells _______.

Answer 8

much quicker

Question 9

What does the vaccine contain?

Answer 9

A dead or inactivated form of the pathogen

Question 10

What is stimulated by the vaccine?

Answer 10

White blood cells to produce antibodies complementary to the antigens on the pathogen