A secondary school is deciding whether to take part in an immunisation programme against disease R. Disease R spreads between people, and some pupils cannot receive the vaccine for medical reasons.
The school is given this information.
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| pupils expected to receive the vaccine | 95% |
| vaccinated pupils expected to be protected | 90% |
| infected pupils who develop serious long-term damage | 6% |
| vaccinated pupils who develop pain, swelling or fever lasting up to two days | 14% |
| vaccinated pupils who have a serious adverse reaction | 0.01% |
Discuss whether the school should take part in the immunisation programme.
Use the information in the table and your knowledge of immunisation. You should consider the effects on vaccinated pupils, the effects on pupils who cannot be vaccinated, and the limitations of the programme.
87 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Biology 5.3 Immune system and medicines, covering 5.3.1 The specific immune system, 5.3.2 Response to immunisation, 5.3.3 Advantages and disadvantages of immunisation, 5.3.4 Antibiotics and bacterial infections, 5.3.5 Aseptic techniques in culturing, 5.3.6 Cross-sectional areas of cultures, 5.3.7 Stages of developing new medicines, and 5.3.8 Production of monoclonal antibodies. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.