Practise Vaccination. 14 exam-style questions plus unlimited generated ones on this subtopic, at up to four difficulty levels, with full mark schemes and a progress tracker. Free, no account needed.
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Vaccination can stop people becoming ill with some infectious diseases. Which type of blood cell responds to a vaccine?
White blood cells
Complete the sentence. A person whose body can destroy a pathogen quickly, before they become ill, is said to be .................... to that disease.
Immune
Which type of blood cell responds to the vaccine to provide this protection?
White blood cells
Sample questions
Written for this site in the style of AQA exam questions. They are not taken from real past papers.
Question 1Easy4 marks
Vaccination can stop people becoming ill with some infectious diseases.
(a) What does a vaccine contain? Tick (✓) one box.[1]
Antibiotics that kill the pathogen
Antibodies against the pathogen
Dead or inactive forms of the pathogen
Painkillers to reduce the symptoms
(b) Which type of blood cell responds to a vaccine?[1]
(c) What do these cells produce after vaccination?[1]
(d) Name one disease that most young children in the UK are vaccinated against.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: Dead or inactive forms of the pathogen
(b)Answer: White blood cells
white blood cell
(c)Answer: Antibodies
antibodies
(d)Answer: Measles
measles
any other correct example, e.g. mumps / rubella / polio / tetanus / diphtheria / whooping cough
Question 2Medium7 marks
A child is vaccinated against a disease caused by a bacterium.
(a) Explain how vaccination stops the child becoming ill if the same bacterium enters the child's body in the future.[4]
(b) Explain why the vaccine itself does not make the child ill.[1]
(c) The vaccine does not protect the child against diseases caused by other pathogens. Explain why.[2]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)
the vaccine contains a dead / inactive form of the bacterium
(this) stimulates white blood cells to produce (specific) antibodies
if the same bacterium enters the body, white blood cells respond quickly
(and) produce the correct antibodies rapidly / in large amounts
(so) the bacteria are destroyed before they can reproduce / cause illness
(b)
the bacteria in the vaccine are dead / inactive, so they cannot reproduce / cause disease
(c)
antibodies are specific (to one antigen / pathogen)
other pathogens have different antigens, so the antibodies do not bind to them
Question 3Hard8 marks
Two towns, P and Q, each have 25 000 people. A disease caused by a virus is spread by droplets in the air. In town P, 92% of people had been vaccinated against the disease. In town Q, 60% of people had been vaccinated. The virus was brought into each town by one infected visitor.
(a) Calculate the number of people in town Q who had not been vaccinated.[1]
(b) There were 1850 cases of the disease in town Q. Assume that none of the vaccinated people became ill. Calculate the percentage of unvaccinated people in town Q who became ill.[2]
(c) There were only 3 cases in town P. Explain why there were so few cases in town P, even among the people who had not been vaccinated.[3]
(d) Some people cannot be vaccinated. Explain why it is important for as many other people as possible to be vaccinated.[2]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: 10 000
10 000
(b)Answer: 18.5%
1850 ÷ 10 000 × 100
18.5 (%)
(c)
most people in town P were immune, so could not be infected / could not pass the virus on
(so) an infected person was unlikely to come into contact with an unvaccinated person
(so) the virus could not spread through the population / chains of infection were broken
this is called herd immunity
(d)
people who cannot be vaccinated (e.g. very young babies / people with a weakened immune system / people allergic to the vaccine) are not immune, so they could be infected
if most other people are immune, the pathogen is unlikely to spread / reach these people (herd immunity)