Immunisation and Cold Chain Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The correct match is a-II, b-IV, c-III, d-I.

• MR (measles-rubella) vaccine: subcutaneous, right upper arm.
• BCG: intradermal, left upper arm.
• Pentavalent vaccine: intramuscular, anterolateral thigh.
• Rotavirus vaccine: oral drops.

These are the routes and sites in India's Universal Immunization Programme. The other options give BCG or the rotavirus vaccine a wrong route, which would be a serious error in practice.

Answer: A

The correct statements are 1, 2, 3, 4.

Under India's immunization schedule, fractional IPV (fIPV) is given as a 0.1 ml dose by the intradermal route in the right upper arm, at 6 weeks and 14 weeks of age; a third dose at 9 months was added later.

Statement 5 is wrong: IPV is an inactivated (killed) vaccine, as its name says. The live attenuated polio vaccine is the oral polio vaccine (OPV). So every option including 5 is wrong.

Answer: B

The target year was 1990.

The Universal Immunization Programme, launched in 1985, set out to achieve universal coverage by 1990: immunising infants against the vaccine-preventable diseases and protecting pregnant women with two doses of tetanus toxoid to prevent neonatal tetanus.

1985 is the year the programme began, not its target. 1995 and 2000 fall after the UIP's target date, so they do not match the goal set for tetanus toxoid coverage.

Answer: A

The answer is I is correct, II is incorrect.

IPV (injectable polio vaccine) is an inactivated vaccine. It contains killed virus that cannot multiply, so it is safe for people whose immunity is suppressed, including those on corticosteroid therapy.

OPV (oral polio vaccine) is a live attenuated vaccine. In people whose immunity is suppressed, for example by high-dose corticosteroids, the vaccine virus can multiply unchecked and cause vaccine-associated paralytic polio. Live vaccines are therefore avoided in them, which makes statement II wrong.

Answer: C

Mission Indradhanush is associated with immunization.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched it in December 2014 to reach children and pregnant women left out of routine immunisation, with the aim of raising full immunisation coverage to 90 percent. The name, meaning rainbow, stood for the seven vaccine-preventable diseases it first targeted, including diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.

It is not a family planning, newborn resuscitation or health education programme.

Answer: C

The reason is that spirit can kill the live components of the vaccine.

Many vaccines, such as BCG and measles-containing vaccines, contain live attenuated organisms. Spirit (alcohol) left on the skin can enter with the needle and inactivate them, so the vaccine may fail to give protection. A dirty site is cleaned with a clean swab and water instead.

Dryness or irritation of the skin is a minor side effect, not the reason vaccination guidelines advise against spirit. 'It is not advisable' only repeats the question.

Answer: D

The first vaccine introduced in India was BCG.

BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin), against tuberculosis, was introduced in India in 1948, and mass BCG vaccination campaigns followed from 1951. It was in use decades before the national immunisation programme began.

Oral polio vaccine came with the Expanded Programme on Immunization later on. Hepatitis B vaccine was added to the routine schedule in the 2000s, and rotavirus vaccine was introduced in 2016, so all three are much later.

Answer: D

Mission Indradhanush was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in December 2014.

The Ministry launched it on 25 December 2014 to reach children who were unvaccinated or partly vaccinated, and pregnant women, under the Universal Immunization Programme. The name means rainbow, standing for the vaccine-preventable diseases it originally targeted.

The WHO supports immunization but did not launch this Indian mission, and the social welfare and rural development ministries do not run the immunization programme. The 2011, 2012 and 2013 dates are also wrong.

Answer: A

BCG stands for Bacillus Calmette Guerin.

The vaccine is named after the two French scientists who developed it, Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin, at the Pasteur Institute. It is made from a weakened strain of Mycobacterium bovis, a bacillus, and is given at birth to protect against severe forms of tuberculosis.

The other options alter one word each: 'Climate' for Calmette, 'Goitre' (a thyroid swelling) for Guerin, and 'Bacterial' for Bacillus.

Answer: C

DPT stands for Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus.

The DPT (or DTP) vaccine protects against three bacterial diseases: diphtheria, which forms a membrane in the throat; pertussis, or whooping cough; and tetanus, which causes muscle spasms. It is given in infancy with boosters, and today mostly as part of the pentavalent vaccine.

The other options replace diphtheria with diarrhoea, or pertussis and tetanus with polio and typhoid. Polio is prevented by the separate polio vaccines, and typhoid by the typhoid vaccine.