L5 - Vaccinations

• Vaccinations protect humans from infectious diseases. They prevent the individual from becoming ill as well as preventing spread.
• The problems with vaccinations arise if a parent decides that their child will not have a vaccination for a specific disease due to unfounded anxiety over side effects.
• Media plays a huge role on whether parents decide their children will be vaccinated or not.
• Vaccines contain one of the following inactive ingredients:

  • A weak pathogen
  • A dead pathogen
  • Antigens
• Vaccines create memory cells without getting ill. The memory cells will produce the specific antibody to the antigen.
• After having a vaccination, if a real infection occurs the memory cells produce a rapid immune response and you don’t get ill, with a larger number of antibodies.