Lesson Idea

6 Science Articles about Vaccination

Kids in middle school and high school may be too old to remember their early childhood immunizations, but they’re old enough to be exposed to misleading anti-vaccination literature and videos online about the safety of vaccinations. We want to help you teach them how vital vaccines are in stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies that it can later use to fight infection. In fact, vaccines save millions of lives every year.

This collection of adapted research articles introduces students to research on vaccination. Engage students with standards-matched adaptations, introductory video content, comprehension questions, and vocabulary to further the lesson outcomes. Each adapted article also comes with additional suggestions for activities to enhance the readers’ understanding and make the class more exciting.

1. Can you get vaccinated without a needle?

Abstract: Vaccines are an important tool to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19. Despite their importance, it can be difficult to get such important medicine to everybody who needs it. We developed a painless vaccine patch that can make vaccines easier to transport. It could also increase access for everyone, especially those who are scared of needles! In this study, we wanted to determine if our vaccine patch could produce an immune response, increasing our bodies’ protection. We measured the amount of antibodies produced by the immune systems in mice who received the vaccine patch and showed that this vaccine tool is just as effective as traditional needle vaccinations. We also found that the vaccine patch protected the mice from COVID-19 after a single application. These discoveries proved that the vaccine patch can be a safe and effective form of delivering vaccinations.

This article is suitable for high school students. An audio version is available in English, and a written translation is available in Bulgarian.

Key terms: biotechnology, COVID-19, disease control, epidemic, immunity, infectious diseases, microbiology, molecular biology, outbreak, teen health, vaccine
Scientific figures: bar graph
Scientific method: ELISA, experiment, fluorescence imaging

2. Why do measles survivors get sicker?

Abstract: Measles is one of the major causes of death among children, even though there is a safe and effective vaccine against it. In fact, because fewer people have been getting vaccinated, the number of people dying from measles is increasing. Even if those who catch it survive, they tend to get sick more often than those who have never had the virus. Why is that? We wanted to find out about the long-term effects of measles on the immune system – perhaps they would hold the answer. We collected blood samples from 77 unvaccinated children before and after they got infected with the virus during an outbreak in the Netherlands. We tracked the changes in antibodies (the particles that fight off pathogens) in the children’s bloodstream. We found that measles wipes out up to 73% of these antibodies, leaving the children unprotected against other diseases for months, and sometimes years. These findings further show the importance of vaccination.

This article is suitable for middle school and lower high school students. This article includes an SJK Academy Research Recap video to help students summarize the content.

Key terms: disease control, immunity, infectious diseases, microbiology, outbreak, vaccine
Scientific figures: box and whisker plot
Scientific method: case study, data extrapolation, DNA sequencing, ELISA, experiment, representative sampling

3. Why get vaccinated when the flu vaccine doesn’t work well?

Abstract: Have you ever had the flu? Most people recover from it pretty fast. However, the flu still kills thousands of children and adults each year. This makes it a big health problem across the world. The best way we can prevent flu infection is by getting vaccinated. The problem with the flu vaccine is that in some years it doesn’t work as well as others. For example, in 2017-2018 the flu vaccine was less effective in preventing infection among vaccinated people compared to previous years. We wanted to study the impact of less effective vaccines in preventing flu-related infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. We found that even when the flu vaccines don’t work well, they prevent a large number of people from getting infected or hospitalized and save thousands of lives. This effect is called herd immunity. We also learned that when vaccines are less effective, it is most important for school-age children, young adults, and the elderly to be vaccinated.

This article is suitable for middle school students. This article includes a herd immunity lesson plan developed by SJK.

Key terms: immunity, microbiology, outbreak, vaccine
Scientific figures: bar graph, histogram
Scientific method: scientific modeling

4. How many lives do vaccines save?

Abstract: Ever since their creation, vaccines have saved countless lives all over the world! Still, people in many countries suffer from diseases that could be prevented by vaccination. We looked at 98 countries where a lot of people are infected with such diseases. We wanted to measure the benefits of vaccination for them. Using mathematical models, we found that vaccination saved 37 million lives between 2000 and 2019! We project that it could save 32 million more by 2030.

This article is suitable for middle school and lower high school students. An audio version is available in English, and there is a written translation in Bulgarian.

Key terms: disease control, immunity, infectious diseases, microbiology, vaccine
Scientific figure: map, time series graph
Scientific method: data validation, policy analysis, scientific modeling

5. How can a community protect everyone from disease?

Abstract: Did you know that you protect yourself and those around you by getting vaccinated? Diseases can’t spread easily when enough people in a population get vaccinated. This effect is called herd immunity. Cholera is a big threat in countries that don’t have safe water and toilets for everyone. These countries sometimes vaccinate large numbers of people (mass vaccination). This creates herd immunity and prevents disease outbreaks. But it is hard to know how long herd immunity will last. In one camp in South Sudan, people who had fled their homes during a war received mass vaccination. However, there was a cholera outbreak the following year. We developed a mathematical model to find out what affects how long herd immunity lasts. We found that (a) it lasts for a shorter time when a lot of people move into and out of an area, and (b) the vaccine gets less effective for each person over time. Our results suggest that herd immunity lasts longer if authorities do two things: 1. vaccinate everyone; and 2. always give vaccines to new arrivals to the camp and to those who were vaccinated a long time ago.

This article is suitable for middle school and lower high school students.

Key terms: disease control, immunity, infectious diseases, microbiology, vaccine
Scientific figure: pictograph, time series graph
Scientific method: case study, scientific modeling

6. How does the way we think affect our choices about vaccines?

Abstract: Vaccines save millions of lives each year. Yet there are more and more people who are unsure about getting them. Why is that? So far, studies have looked at issues related directly to vaccines. But we think it might be something else. Could it have to do with how people’s minds work? To find out, we asked 356 people different questions about what and how they think, and what they believe. What did we discover? People who like to trust their feelings and believe in supernatural things are more likely to be against vaccines. But those who think carefully and have some scientific knowledge generally trust vaccines. It seems the way our minds work can affect what we think about vaccines. This is important to remember when we talk about the importance of vaccines.

This article is suitable for middle school students. An audio version is available in English. This article includes an SJK Academy Research Recap video to help students summarize the content.

Key terms: cognition, disease control, immunity, psychology, vaccine
Scientific figures: bar graph
Scientific method: proxy data, representative sampling, scientific modeling, survey research