Glencoe Health ©2011

Introduction:
This lesson discusses how drugs can be used to prevent disease, kill pathogens, and manage chronic conditions. The main way that medicines can prevent disease is through a process known as immunization, or vaccination. In the United States, children routinely receive vaccinations against common childhood diseases. The government oversees vaccination efforts through the National Vaccine Program. The website of the National Vaccine Program Office has fact sheets about vaccination and the diseases it can prevent.

Links to Explore:
Facts about Vaccines
http://www.vaccines.gov/

Directions:

• Click on the link to go to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services's site for information about vaccines.
• After reading these pages, answer the following questions

1			Explain how the process of vaccination protects the body against disease.
2			How does immunizing individual children help to protect the community as a whole?
3			List three potentially fatal childhood diseases that can be prevented through vaccination.
4			What are the economic costs of vaccine-preventable diseases?
5			About what percentage of Americans used to contract measles before measles vaccination became widespread?
6			What are the symptoms of tetanus?