Vaccinations

Question 1

What do vaccines protect from?

Answer 1

Future infections

Question 2

What is injected into your blood stream in a vaccine?

Answer 2

A small amount of a dead or inactive pathogen

Question 3

What happens when the pathogen is injected into the blood stream?

Answer 3

The ANTGENS it carries will cause the body’s white blood cells to produce ANTIBODIES to attack them

Question 4

What pathogens does the MMR vaccine contain?

Answer 4

1. Measles
2. Mumps
3. Rubella

Question 5

If the body comes into contact with a stronger version of a pathogen AFTER being vaccinated against it, what happens?

Answer 5

The body’s white blood cells recognise it and can rapidly mass-produce antibodies to kill of the pathogen

Question 6

What happens to some vaccines over time, and what has to be done as a result?

Answer 6

Some ‘wear off’ over time

Booster injections are given to increase levels of antibodies

Question 7

As having a whole range of vaccinations is pretty much standard now, what is much less likely to happen?

Answer 7

Children catching the kind of diseases they might have done in the past

Question 8

What are the 2 pros of vaccinations?

Answer 8

1. They have helped control lots of and even eradicate some diseases that were once common in the UK
2. Epidemics can be prevented if a large percentage of the population is vaccinated

Question 9

Name 6 diseases, once common in the UK, that vaccines have helped control

Answer 9

1. Polio
2. Measles
3. Whooping cough
4. Rubella
5. Mumps
6. Tetanus

Question 10

Which disease no longer occurs because of immunisation though vaccination?

Answer 10

Smallpox

Question 11

What percentage have polio infections fallen by?

Answer 11

99%

Question 12

Explain how vaccinating a large percentage of the population prevents epidemics

Answer 12

Even the people who aren’t vaccinated are unlikely to catch the disease because there are fewer people able to pass it on.

Question 13

If a significant number of people aren’t vaccinated, then what can happen?

Answer 13

The disease can spread QUICKLY through them and lots of people will be ILL at the same time

Question 14

What are the 2 ‘cons’ of vaccines?

Answer 14

1. Sometimes they don’t work and don’t give you immunity

2. SOMETIMES you can have a bad reaction to a vaccine

Question 15

How likely is it for someone to have a bad reaction to a vaccine?

Answer 15

Rare

Question 16

Give 3 examples of bad reactions to vaccines, and how serious they are

Answer 16

1. Swelling (not very serious)
2. Fever (serious)
3. Seizures (serious)

Question 17

Statistically speaking, are you better off being vaccinated or not vaccinated?

Answer 17

1. More likely to contract a disease through not being vaccinated (which can lead to complications or even death), than you are to have a bad reaction from being vaccinated.
2. Also less deadly (generally) to have a bad reaction than the actual disease