Which one of the following statements is not correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) Hepatitis B, unlike Hepatitis C, does not have a vaccine.
Statement (b) is the false one: hepatitis B has a safe and effective vaccine, usually given soon after birth, whereas it is hepatitis C that has no vaccine.
- ✗ (a) This statement is true, so it is not the answer. Both viruses pass on through blood and other body fluids, for example through unsafe injections, sex with an infected partner and from mother to child.
- ✓ (b) This is the statement that is not correct, so it is the answer. Hepatitis B can be prevented by a vaccine. NCERT Class 12 Biology notes that the hepatitis B vaccine is produced from yeast. Hepatitis C has no vaccine, but antiviral medicines can cure it.
- ✗ (c) This statement is true. WHO puts chronic hepatitis B at 240 million and chronic hepatitis C at 47 million people, against about 41 million people living with HIV.
- ✗ (d) This statement is true. Most people newly infected with hepatitis B have no symptoms, and chronic hepatitis C often stays silent for decades until the liver is damaged.
- • Since then The figures above are the latest WHO estimates (2024-25), not the 2019 numbers; the gap between hepatitis B and C infections and HIV infections is still several-fold.
Remember · Hepatitis B has a vaccine; hepatitis C does not. Both spread through blood and body fluids, and both can stay silent for years.
Sources
- WHO fact sheet: Hepatitis B ↗ “Hepatitis B can be prevented with a safe and effective vaccine. The vaccine is usually given soon after birth with boosters a few weeks later.”
- WHO fact sheet: Hepatitis C ↗ “There is no vaccine for hepatitis C, but it can be treated and cured with antiviral medications.”
- WHO fact sheet: HIV and AIDS ↗ “There were an estimated 41.0 million people living with HIV at the end of 2025”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·