Part 04 · Health and disease · Card 6 of 10
Vaccination
Giving a harmless form of a pathogen so the body learns to make antibodies before meeting the real thing.
Last updated
Analogy
A practice drill before a real fire.
In practice
The measles vaccine stops most children getting measles.
Practice
Flashcards
- How does vaccination protect you?It trains your body to make antibodies quickly if the real pathogen arrives.
Interview questions
- Explain how a vaccine gives protection against a disease.
- A vaccine contains a dead or weakened pathogen or its antigens
- White blood cells make antibodies against the antigens
- Memory cells stay in the body
- A later infection is destroyed quickly before symptoms develop
Questions people ask
What is in a vaccine?
A vaccine contains a safe form of the pathogen, such as a dead or weakened version, or just a piece of it. It cannot cause the disease but still has the antigens that trigger the immune system. The body responds by making antibodies and memory cells.
Why do some vaccines need boosters?
For some diseases, one dose does not give long-lasting immunity, so extra doses remind the immune system. Others, like the flu vaccine, are given every year because flu viruses mutate and change their antigens, so last year's antibodies may no longer match.