Module 6

Question 1

Vaccine

Answer 1

• substance that resembles a pathogen in some ways and elicits an immune response, providing protection from disease if the pathogen itself is encountered
• best strategy to achieve herd immunity

Question 2

Inoculation

Answer 2

• act of implanting a pathogen in an animal or person, usually to induce immunity from disease
• people would usually get a milder version of the illness and then be immune
• risk much less than infected naturally

Question 3

How do vaccines work

Answer 3

• harnessing body’s natural ability to fight off infectious diseases and remember previous infections

Question 4

Immune memory

Answer 4

an individual’s immune system can remember what pathogens it has previously encountered and fights back faster and stronger with subsequent encounters

Question 5

Goals of Vaccination

Answer 5

1. Prevent disease in an individual: when a virus takes residence in a person they are infected, they only have disease if they get sick; vaccination aims to prevent the disease if they become exposed or infected
2. Prevent transmission of the pathogen in the community: vaccination prevents viruses from replicating in our cells; less virus means less transmission in the community- protecting vaccinated and unvaccinated people

Question 6

Herd immunity

Answer 6

• the more immune people in a community, the less an infectious disease can spread to others in that community
• herd immunity protects unvaccinated- difficult for disease to spread