BRAINCAKEThe Pros and Cons of Vaccination
Vaccination programmes have prevented millions of deaths, but deciding whether to vaccinate involves weighing up benefits, risks and ethical issues.
Advantages of vaccination
• It protects the vaccinated person from a disease that could cause serious illness, disability or death.
• If enough people are vaccinated, it also protects people who cannot be vaccinated, and it can lead to the eradication of a disease, as happened with smallpox.
• Preventing disease is usually cheaper than treating it, and fewer people are off work or school.
• Vaccines reduce the need for antibiotics, which helps to slow the spread of antibiotic resistance.
Disadvantages and problems
• Vaccines can cause side effects. Most are mild, such as a sore arm or a slight fever, but a very small number of people have a severe allergic reaction.
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Key terms in this lesson
- antigenic variability
- The extent to which a pathogen's antigens change over time or between strains, which can allow it to evade immune memory.
- placebo
- A substance with no active therapeutic effect, given to a control group in a trial for comparison with the actual treatment.
More in Response to Infection
- The Cell-Mediated Response
- Cytotoxic T Cells
- Primary and Secondary Immune Response
- Types of Immunity
- Artificial Passive Immunity
- Artificial Active Immunity - Vaccines
- Herd Immunity
- Eradicating Disease
All 20 lessons in Response to Infection · All Edexcel A-level Biology topics