Biology Exam Notes PDF
Document Details
Uploaded by Deleted User
Tags
Summary
These notes cover the basics of vaccines, including their function, types, safety, and effectiveness. The notes mention herd immunity and discuss the history of vaccination. They highlight potential benefits and risks.
Full Transcript
Biology Exam study ***Unit 8 -- Vaccines*** What is a vaccine? - A preparation that is administered to stimulate the body\'s immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease - Vaccines protect vaccinated individuals - Vaccines can also protect unvaccinated individuals......
Biology Exam study ***Unit 8 -- Vaccines*** What is a vaccine? - A preparation that is administered to stimulate the body\'s immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease - Vaccines protect vaccinated individuals - Vaccines can also protect unvaccinated individuals.... - Vaccines work by imitating a bacteria or a virus using either mRNA or a dead or weakened version of the bacteria virus. - The vaccine raised the body's alarm. It trains the body to recognize and fight the virus. - When the body encounters the real-dead virus, it is primed and ready to fight for the body's health Contagiousness % herd immunity - R0 number = \# of people 1 ill person normally infects - Higher R0 = higher % of the population needs to be vaccinated to stop infectious spread - = % vaccinated to achieve **herd immunity** - Omicron R0 [\80% fatality rate in children - \>90% fatility rate in native populations during colonization of the Americas - Survivors were \~immune to further infection - 'Variolation' was common practice -- take sample from smallpox sufferer and deliberately infect healthy individuals - Jenner wanted to find a safer alternative - Jenner heard a dairy maid claim "I can't take the smallpox for I have already had the cowpox" hypothesis - In 1796 Jenner took pus from a cowpox sore and put it on skin scratches of an 8 yo "volunteer", James Phipps - 6 weeks later deliberately infected him with smallpox - No illness - Later shown to be much safer than variolation.... Smallpox eradication - In 1967, \~15 million people contracted smallpox, with \~2 million deaths worldwide - In that year WHO started eradication program using vaccinations with cowpox virus - Smallpox officially eradicated in 1980 Reflection - As kids we get different vaccines - Due to this the most common diseases are rare - The ***very effectiveness of vaccines*** has led to the ***illusion*** that vaccines are not needed complacency vaccine hesitancy Potential harms - No vaccine is 100% safe - In kids \
