When I Googled ‘vaccination’ to do a little research before writing this post I was surprised that my top three options were Wikipedia (of course), the NHS (sensibly) and vaccination.co.uk (a site that is sceptical of the efficacy of vaccination). I would have expected criticism of one of the medical marvels of the modern world to be more deeply buried. It may be that Google knows what I like, however, and since I do a lot of reading about alternative medical practices it thought it would throw Mr Lanigan’s views into the mix. When I reread old posts of mine and spot mistakes it makes me cringe. I used to have Felix to point out every error but now things slip through all the time, much to my shame. I mention this because the page titled “The Debate about Vaccinations?” at vaccinations.co.uk has this sentence in its opening paragraph…
The medical establishment consider that the benefit of vaccinations are clear, fewer people develop infectious diseases and the complications associated with thee diseases and children that are not vaccinated for whatever reason are are still protected by a process called “herd immunity”.
I don’t know how many mistakes you can spot but I think at least five. I know it is unfair but it makes me less likely to trust the quality of the advice. It is why I give my pupils a hard time about presentation and style in their writing. I think they are more likely to be taken seriously when they present themselves well.
Anyway (!) what are vaccines? A vaccination is a preventative medicine given to reduce the risk of catching a disease caused by a virus such as measles, polio or influenza. It usually takes one of three forms…
- a live (but inactive) form of the disease causing virus
- a dead sample of the virus
- some pieces of protein from the coating of the virus
This triggers an immune response from the body so that if it ever encounters an active virus it already has the antibodies present to defend itself against the infection. In some rarer cases vaccines can be made to help against bacterial diseases such as pertussis (whooping cough) or against a parasitic protozoan (Protista) such as malaria.
This is all explained in a little more detail, and with more jokes, in this TED lesson from Kelwalin Dhanasarnsombut.
.
Questions…
- What name is give to the medicine designed to kill bacteria?
- Other than pertussis, name two more diseases causes by bacteria.
- What are the two types of cell produced by the body to attack viruses?
- From what molecules are proteins made?
- You were born with antibodies already in your bloodstream that passed from your mother to you via the placenta. Suggest…
- (a) two other substances that travel from mother to fetus
- (b) two substances that travel from fetus to mother
Comments