Question

Read the following paragraph and write the answers to the questions based on them.

Vaccination gives either permanent or temporary immunity against a specific pathogen or disease. Traditionally, vaccines were prepared with the help of pathogens. Completely or partially killed pathogens were used as vaccines. However, due to this, there were chances of contracting the disease in case of some persons. Hence, as an alternative, scientists tried to artificially produce vaccines with the help of biotechnology. For this purpose, scientists produced the antigen in the laboratory with the help of genes isolated from the pathogen and used it as a vaccine. Thus, safer vaccines are being produced. Work on production of edible vaccines is in progress and presently, potatoes are being produced with the help of biotechnology. These potatoes are called transgenic potatoes. These potatoes will act against bacteria like Vibrio cholerae, Escherichia coli. Consumption of these raw potatoes generates immunity against pathogens. For the production of such edible vaccines, antigens are produced by isolating the desired gene from human pathogens and injecting it into plants.

1. How can people who have been vaccinated get infected?
2. Why are vaccines produced with the help of biotechnology safer than conventional vaccines?
3. How does the immune system respond to vaccination?
4. What is the disadvantage of transgenic potatoes?
5. Why is vaccination more beneficial than antibiotics?

Answer 1

1. Traditional vaccines were prepared with the help of completely or partially killed pathogens. Hence, there were chances that some who had been vaccinated would contract the disease.
2. Vaccines produced by biotechnology use only antigens prepared by genes isolated from the pathogen. This eliminates the use of complete pathogen and reduces the chances of the vaccinated person from contracting the disease people.
3. The immune system gets activated on encountering the pathogenic antigen, thus protecting the body from any subsequent attack by the same pathogen.
4. Transgenic potatoes containing edible vaccines cannot be cooked, as heating would denature the proteins and reduce the vaccine potential.
5. Vaccines can be used to prevent a disease, whereas antibiotics are used only after a person falls ill.