vaccination

• What is a vaccine?

  an injection that contains a weaker version of the disease
• how does a vaccine work

  white blood cells produce antibodies, when the infection happens again they are produced faster
• herd immunity


  immunity in most of a population
• pros of vaccinations

  1. helped to control many communicable diseases that were once common in the UK e.g. polio, measles, rubella, mumps, tetanus etc
  2. epidemics can be prevented if a large percentage of the population have been vaccinated - therefore, fewer people are likely to spread the disease
• cons of vaccinations

  1. sometimes they don't give you immunity
  2. they can sometimes trigger bad reactions e.g. swelling, fevers, seizures - bad reactions are very rare