4.3.1.7 Vaccination

What is vaccination?

Making an individual immune to a certain disease and protected against it before they have been infected

What is the process of herd immunity?

Immunising a large proportion of the population so the spread of the pathogen is reduced as there are less people to catch the disease from

How do vaccines work?

A dead or inactivated form of the pathogen is put into the vaccine which stimulates white blood cells to produce antibodies complementary to the antigen on the pathogen so if you are to be infected, antibodies can be produced much quicker and the pathogen can be destroyed before symptoms

What are the advantages of vaccination?

They have gotten rid of many diseases so far and epidemics can be prevented through herd immunity

What are the disadvantages of vaccination?

They aren’t always effective in providing immunity, bad reactions can happen in response to vaccines