What are vaccines? How are they made? How do they protect people? What are the different modes of manufacturing them, advantages and disadvantages? These questions and others are explored in this lesson. Students use an online simulator to understand herd immunity. Small groups research how a particular vaccine is made, present their findings, and keep a notebook of the different types of vaccines.

Time: Two to three 45-minute sessions

Lesson questions

• What is the purpose of a vaccine?
• What are the different ways in which vaccines are made?
• How do vaccines protect populations of people?

Teacher files

Here you'll find your lesson plan and a quick overview of the lesson content, activities and recommended prerequisites.

• Lesson Plan
• Prep Steps (PPT)
• Prep Steps (PDF)

Student files

These documents can be distributed to your students digitally or on paper.

• Main student worksheet 
• Herd immunity worksheet
• Weakened virus vaccine worksheet
• Inactivated vaccine worksheet
• Conjugate vaccine worksheet
• Recombinant vaccine worksheet
• Toxoid vaccine worksheet
• Types of Vaccines Presentation worksheet