Vaccines are substances that contain antigens, that is, what generates the formation of antibodies and produce a response from the immune system, which are incubated in a person’s body. This is done in order for the patient to obtain certain immunological memory, that is to say that his body is prepared and resistant to a condition or disease, of which the vaccine contains certain information. Vaccines are one of the best means to avoid the appearance of diseases or epidemics or problems of contagion of a disease among the population of a place. They are generally applied topically or orally and are most often given to young children, older adults, or people who for some reason have a high chance of contracting a specific disease.
Vaccines were discovered in the 18th century and, since then, they have become one of the main discoveries in the world of medicine. Vaccines are very important and are part of a health policy in the countries of the world. Mainly because they help prevent diseases or conditions that would otherwise be very difficult to combat once the patient has the disease in their body.
Types of vaccines:
Inactivated vaccines : these vaccines are based on the alteration of harmful microorganisms or pathogens through chemical processes or heat so that they lose their danger. Vaccines of this type produce a response in the immune system, although they also lodge in the person. Most of the time, as the response is usually momentary, these types of vaccines require more doses.
Types of vaccine, inactivated
Live attenuated vaccines: this type of vaccine cultivates microorganisms under certain specific conditions so that they lose their pathogenic properties. They are the vaccines that are most used in adults, since the microorganism preserves its structure and therefore produces a much longer immune response in the body to which it is incubated.
Toxoid vaccines: these types of vaccines incubate certain toxic components of a microorganism, as long as these components are the cause of a disease or condition and not all of the microorganism itself. The components are in this case inactivated.
Acellular vaccines: consist of a combination of purified subcellular elements of a pathogen against which it is intended to protect. These are commonly antigenic proteins, with a high immune content, which in many cases may contain toxoids.
Recombinant subunit vaccines: in this case, the new discoveries of genomic medicine are used in order to be able to alter the DNA of some element or pathogenic microorganism and achieve a change in its structure so that it loses its harmful properties.
