Why are children/infants
given vaccination?
ase-carrying microbe en
body produc
Answers
Answer:
VACCINATION
© Samara Heisz / iStock MMR vaccine being drawn into a syringe. This combined vaccine protects children from three viral diseases: measles, mumps and rubella.
A vaccine is a substance that is introduced into the body to stimulate the body’s immune response. It is given to prevent an infectious disease from developing and the person becoming ill.
Vaccines are made from microbes that are dead or inactive so that they are unable to cause disease. The antigen in the vaccine is the same as the antigen on the surface of the disease-causing microbe. The vaccine stimulates the body to produce antibodies against the antigen in the vaccine. The antibodies created will be the same as those produced if the person was exposed to the pathogen. If the vaccinated person then comes into contact with the disease-causing microbe, the immune system remembers the antibodies it made to the vaccine and can make them faster. The person is said to be immune to the pathogen.
Vaccines are usually given by an injection. The measles vaccine is combined with the mumps and rubella (German measles) vaccines and is given as a single injection to babies at at 12–18 months, and again at four years old. It is called the MMR vaccine. When enough people are vaccinated against a disease it is possible for that disease to be eliminated from the world, e.g. in 1980 the World Health Organization announced that smallpox had been eradicated.
Answer:
Infants are given vaccination to hopefully prevent the growth of potentially harmful diseases