Learn More About Vaccines

Vaccines are a fascinating concept that has constantly been improving and saving our world from many crises’. Multiple types of vaccines teach and assist your immune system in fighting off unwanted bacteria and cells.

1. Live-attenuated Vaccines are a common type of vaccine that inserts an attenuated version of the living pathogen. The pathogen is mutated to an extent in which it can no longer cause disease in the host body but can assist in building immunity. This allows your body's immune system to recognize the foreign particle and create an antibody, which allows for a strong and fast immune response if the pathogen is able to enter your body again. This type of vaccine can potentially be risky because it is a live virus entering the body.

2. Inactivated Vaccines use the inactivated/killed version of the pathogen that causes the virus. Because the virus is not active, it cannot cause disease but is still recognized by the host cells as a foreign particle and the immune system responds. This type of vaccine requires multiple doses to develop an immune response within the host body because rather than creating a specific antibody for the antigen, it encourages the production of T cells, which protect the host cells in various other ways.

3. mRNA Vaccine is short for Messenger RNA vaccine. RNA has various different functions within our bodies but mRNA specifically is necessary for protein production. mRNA vaccines are created using information from a virus’s outer membrane. Using the molecule of mRNA, your host cells produce the viral protein within your body. Because this protein is not a regular cell within your body, your immune system will recognize it as a foreign cell and your immune response will initiate, producing antibodies to the vaccine. Similar to the live-attenuated vaccine, this creates a fast immune response in case of the chance that your body is exposed to the pathogen again.

4. Subunit Vaccines are different types of vaccines that do not put any version of a whole pathogen into your body. Instead, they take antigens from the pathogen and put it in your body. Antigens are similar to flags that the host cells in your immune system will use to create antibodies in your body. Although this type of vaccine is common, the immune response is not as strong when comparing it to methods using whole pathogens because the host cells do not have as much information about the pathogen when it is only exposed to the antigen. Often adjuvants, which can be many different non-immunogenic materials, are added to subunit vaccines because of the weak immune response created by just the antigen. There are various types of subunit vaccines including; recombinant, polysaccharide and conjugate vaccines.

5. Toxoid Vaccines are used for types of bacteria that release toxins. When given this type of vaccine, our body creates an immune response to the toxin, which is the disease-causing part, rather than the whole pathogen. Commonly, an unactivated version of the toxin, which is referred to as a toxoid, will be put into your body.

Although there are many other types of vaccines, information about these commonly used ones can give you a better idea of what is going into your body when you are getting immunized. Not all vaccines are suitable for everyone and you should consult medical professionals and research the vaccine before getting it.

References

Cuffari, B. (n.d.). What is a Subunit Vaccine? News Medical. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-a-Subunit-Vaccine.aspx

Leighton, B., Vanderslott, S., Thomas, T., & Wilkinson, T. (2021, April 30). Types of vaccine | Vaccine Knowledge. Vaccine Knowledge Project. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/types-of-vaccine

Ryding, S. (n.d.). What is an Inactivated Vaccine? News Medical. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-an-Inactivated-Vaccine.aspx

Vaccine Types. (2021, April 29). HHS.gov. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.hhs.gov/immunization/basics/types/index.html

What are mRNA vaccines and how do they work? (2022, February 28). MedlinePlus. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/therapy/mrnavaccines/