Lesson 3.

Vaccines in the Elimination of Disease

1. Introduction
Vaccines have been a transformative tool in the field of
medicine, playing a crucial role in the elimination of various
diseases throughout history. This report explores the impact of
vaccines in eradicating and controlling diseases, highlighting
their importance in public health.

2. Historical Perspective
Vaccination has a rich history dating back to the 18th century when Edward Jenner introduced
the smallpox vaccine. This marked the beginning of a revolutionary era in disease control.

3. Disease Elimination and Eradication

Vaccines are primarily categorized into the following types:

1. Inactivated or Killed Vaccines:

 These vaccines contain viruses or bacteria that have been killed or
inactivated. They stimulate an immune response without causing the
disease. Examples include the polio vaccine and hepatitis A vaccine.

2. Live Attenuated Vaccines:

 These vaccines use weakened forms of the live virus or bacteria that can still replicate but
cause a milder form of the disease. Examples include the measles, mumps, and rubella
(MMR) vaccine and the yellow fever vaccine

3. Subunit, Recombinant, or Conjugate Vaccines:

 These vaccines use specific pieces of the virus or bacteria (subunits), pieces of genetic
material (recombinant), or attach a part of the pathogen to a carrier protein (conjugate).
Examples include the hepatitis B vaccine and the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)
vaccine.
4. Toxoid Vaccines:
 These vaccines use inactivated toxins produced by bacteria
rather than the microbe itself. They are used to protect
against diseases caused by toxins. An example is the tetanus
vaccine.

5. mRNA Vaccines:
 A more recent development, mRNA vaccines, like the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19
vaccines, use a small piece of genetic material (mRNA) to instruct cells to produce a harmless
piece of the virus that triggers an immune response.

6. Viral Vector Vaccines:

 These vaccines use a different virus (not the one causing the disease) to deliver genetic material
from the pathogen. The COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are
examples.
7. DNA Vaccines:
 DNA vaccines use a small, circular piece of DNA to
stimulate an immune response. These are still in the
experimental stage and not widely used in clinical
practice.
These are the main types of vaccines, each with its own
advantages and limitations. The choice of vaccine type
depends on the specific disease and the desired
immune response.
The future of vaccines
Scientists are still working to create new types of vaccines. Examples of this are DNA
vaccines which are easy and inexpensive to make which also produce strong, long-term immunity
and recombinant vector vaccines (platform-based vaccines), which act like a natural infection, so
they're especially good at teaching the immune system how to fight germs
Thank
you