cameroon gce A level June 2024 English language 2
cameroon gce A level June 2024 English language 2
SECTION A
SUMMARY AND TEXT RECONSTRUCTION (30 Marks)
QUESTION 1: SUMMARY ( IS marks)
Read the following passage on immunization and summarise it in one paragraph of not more than ISO words,
using your own words as far as possible.
Immunization has become a vital part of public health and disease prevention, and yet, remains a controversial topic in
our society today. Diseases which were once responsible for significant morbidity and mortality have now become all
eradicated, thanks to the introduction of vaccines. Immunization has contributed to increased life expectancy and
improved quality of life.
The World Health Organization has made life long immunization a priority, including it as a core to the 2030
Sustainable Development Goals. In fact, in 2012, the World Health Assembly adopted the Global Vaccine Action
Plan, which aimed at preventing millions of deaths by 2020 by increasing access and utilization of vaccines throughout
the world. The first milestone this action plan hopes to achieve is the worldwide eradication of polio.
A vaccine is a pharmacological compound that improves a person’s immunity to a particular disease. When a diseasecausing bacterium or virus invades the human body, the immune system recognizes the material as foreign, usually by
detecting specific protein portions of the invading organism known as antigens. Vaccines contain a form of the
disease-causing agent, whether it be a weakened or killed form of the microbe itself, an inactivated version of its
toxins or a protein from the surface of the microbe. By introducing a form of the agent, the vaccine presents the
antigen to the immune system, allowing it to recognize the antigen as foreign and develop antibodies and memory Tlymphocytes against those antigens. This allows a more rapid and robust immune response should the body be exposed
to the organism in the future. In the absence of vaccination, the first exposure to the natural organism may prove fatal
before the immune system can mount a sufficient immune response.
Childhood vaccinations are indicated for the prevention of a multitude of viral and bacterial infections and their
sequelae. Specific vaccination recommendations for children vary by region, as exposure to disease varies by region.
Current recommendations for adult vaccination include a yearly influenza vaccine and tetanus-diphtheria every 10
years, with tetanus-diphtheria-acellular-pertussis at least once in adulthood. The addition of acellular pertussis once
during adulthood is intended to prevent the transmission of whooping cough to young children or those unable to be
vaccinated.
Passive immunization is indicated in patients who cannot form antibodies, such as those immunocompromised. It is
also indicated when the disease may develop before active immunity is capable of developing antibodies, such as in a
patient exposed to rabies. In this instance, the patient may develop rabies before the active immunization effectively
creates antibodies
