immunisations - describe two disadvantages of vaccinations ?

Although vaccinations are very beneficial they do carry risk factors - they can cause mild swelling, soreness, a mild form of the disease (they are being vaccinated for), and rare major harmful reactions. I would ideally like to ask the student to think of disadvantages and give them hints if they struggle to find an answer e.g. when you have had a vaccination are there any side effects you have had, or any side effects your family or siblings have had. I would like to extend the discussion to advantages of vaccinations (herd immunity, eradication of disease, prevention of complications of disease) and then move on to how vaccinations work if the student is unclear on this ( vaccinations contain antigens from a pathogen, that are inactive and unable to cause disease, the vaccine causes memory lymphocytes to be produced, so if a person is exposed to the disease the memory lymphocytes produce a secondary response, this will prevent an increase in the pathogen to a level that causes illness)
Using you tube videos, pre prepared activities, exam questions and open discussions aid to effectively teach a student as the lecturer approach is not as effective as a facilitator of learning approach. Checking the students learning and understanding is very important.

Answered by Ameenah R. Biology tutor

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