What Are The 4 Types of Vaccines?

There are different types of vaccines with each designed to teach your immune system how to fight off certain germs and the serious diseases they cause. Generally, there are 4 types of vaccines which include:

• Live-attenuated vaccines
• Inactivated vaccines
• Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide and conjugate vaccines
• Toxoid vaccines

Live-attenuated Vaccines

These vaccines use a weakened form of the germ that causes the specific disease. The vaccines are very similar to the natural infection they prevent and as a result, they create a strong and long-lasting immune system. Some diseases that are prevented using live vaccines include measles, mumps, rotavirus, smallpox, chickenpox and yellow fever.

Inactivated Vaccines

These vaccines use the killed form of the germ that causes a disease. The immunity they provide is not as strong as that of attenuated vaccines so immunity boosters may be required along the way. Diseases prevented using inactivated vaccines are like hepatitis A, flu, polio and rabies.

Subunit, Recombinant, Polysaccharide & Conjugate Vaccines

These vaccines use specific pieces of the germ for example its protein, sugar or capsid. The vaccines use only specific pieces of the germ so they give a strong immune response that’s targeted to the key parts of the germ. The vaccines protect against disease like hepatitis, HPV, whooping cough, shingles, and pneumococcal disease.

Toxoid Vaccines

These vaccines use a toxin made by the germ that causes the disease. The vaccines will create immunity to the parts of the germ that cause a disease instead of the germ itself. They target the toxin in the germ rather than the whole germ. The vaccines protect against disease like diphtheria and tetanus.

Healthy kids are happy kids. All parents start thinking about the cold weather and the many types of illnesses it brings with it. Hand washing is not a great solution alone, especially after school starts.