Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as foreign, destroy it, and "remember" it, so that the immune system can more easily recognize and destroy any of these microorganisms that it later encounters.

What are Vaccines?

There are several diseases like Diphtheria, whooping cough (pertussis), measles, mumps, Yellow fever, small pox and German measles (rubella) that are unfamiliar to many these days.

Vaccine History

Vaccine Schedule

Vaccine Effectiveness

Vaccine Production

Vaccine Excipients

Vaccine Delivery

Vaccine Immunity

Hib Immunization

History of Vaccination

How are Vaccines Stored?

What are the Different Types of Vaccines?

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What is a Subunit Vaccine?

What is an Inactivated Vaccine?

What is a Live-Attenuated Vaccine?

What is a Toxoid Vaccine?

What is an RNA Vaccine?

What is a DNA Vaccine?

What are Adenovirus-Based Vaccines?

What is a Non-Replicating Vaccine?

What is a VLP Vaccine?

What are Nanoparticle-Based Vaccines?

The Future of Vaccines

Latest Vaccine News and Research

What does approval of the Pfizer vaccine for teens and preteens mean for my child?

Extending the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to preteens and young adolescents adds nearly 17 million more Americans to the pool of those eligible to be immunized against covid-19, helping to build a vaccinated population closer to herd immunity. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are also testing the efficacy of their vaccines in teens and children.

14 May 2021

A SARS-CoV-2 ferritin nanoparticle vaccine elicits broad immunity

In a recent bioRxiv* preprint research paper, M. Gordon Joyce et al. designed engineered nanoparticle immunogens that recapitulate the structural and antigenic properties of prefusion Spike (S), S1 and receptor-binding domain (RBD). They demonstrated that these immunogens induced robust S-binding, ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme)-inhibition, and authentic and pseudovirus neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in mice.

13 May 2021

Dominance of South African SARS-CoV-2 variant in the US is unlikely but possible

Researchers in the United States and Canada have conducted a study showing that the South African variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – is unlikely to become the dominant strain in the US.

13 May 2021

Single dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine protective in previously infected recipients, suggests study

A recent report on the medRxiv* preprint server suggests that a single dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) vaccine could elicit higher titers of neutralizing antibodies, effectively acting as a booster dose, in people who have already been infected by the SARS-CoV-2.

13 May 2021

Phosphatidic acid is a key common substrate for hepatitis C and SARS-CoV-2 replication

A new study, released as a preprint on the bioRxiv* server, focuses on the lipid molecule called phosphatidic acid (PA), showing its crucial role in the replication of this virus, and thus its potential as a target for therapeutic intervention.

13 May 2021

High-density microarray patch could help vaccinate for dengue in a single click

A dengue virus vaccine candidate has passed an important milestone, with promising results in animal model testing providing hope to the 390 million people infected every year.

13 May 2021

Designer SARS-CoV-2 RBD vaccine produces dramatically improved antibody response in preclinical trials

The importance of computational modeling in the prediction of the course of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as well as evaluating multiple potential drug leads, has never been more clear. Now, a new study describes a set of designer vaccine antigens that may improve vaccine stability as well as enhance the neutralizing antibody response.

13 May 2021

UMD receives new funding to stop infection from Lyme disease pathogens before it begins

The University of Maryland received new funding from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation to develop novel therapeutic strategies that have the potential to stop infection from Lyme disease pathogens before it begins.

13 May 2021

South Australian immunologist receives $3 million to accelerate work on Covid-19 vaccine

A leading South Australian immunologist has been awarded $3 million from the Federal Government to accelerate work on a locally developed Covid-19 vaccine, in what's anticipated to be the second line of defence against the virus.

13 May 2021

Study reports new monoclonal antibodies with broad neutralizing capabilities against betacoronaviruses (including SARS-CoV-2)

In a paper published on the bioRxiv* preprint server, researchers report new monoclonal antibodies that target the S2 subunit and that have broad neutralization activity against several betacoronaviruses.

13 May 2021

No placental damage observed in case study of pregnant women with mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations

New research by a team at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, USA, suggests that the COVID-19 vaccine does not damage the placenta and may be safe to use during pregnancy.

13 May 2021

Black fungus complicates India's COVID pandemic

India faces a global health crisis as the number of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections reaches over 23.7 million. As India's health system buckles with increased admissions and a lack of resources, another health threat has emerged.

13 May 2021

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine effective in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms

Researchers in the UK have provided evidence that Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine induces effective immune responses in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms.

13 May 2021

Scientists unveil new Ebola virus vaccine design

Scientists at Scripps Research have unveiled a new Ebola virus vaccine design, which they say has several advantages over standard vaccine approaches for Ebola and related viruses that continue to threaten global health.

13 May 2021

Tympanostomy tubes have no long-term benefits for childhood ear infections

There is no long-term benefit to surgically placing tympanostomy tubes in a young child's ears to reduce the rate of recurrent ear infections during the ensuing two years compared with giving oral antibiotics to treat ear infections, a randomized trial led by UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh pediatrician-scientists determined.

13 May 2021

Rheumatologists develop a set of consensus statements on COVID-19 vaccination

Rheumatologists in Hong Kong joined hands to develop a set of consensus statements on COVID-19 vaccination for local adult patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases. These timely statements would serve to be a guide for rheumatologists, other specialists, family physicians, specialty nurses, and the public regarding COVID-19 vaccination for patients with rheumatic diseases.

13 May 2021

Johns Hopkins expert addresses the impact of pandemic on surgical innovation pipeline and ecosystem

The COVID-19 pandemic has worked havoc on many aspects of society, health care hardly the least among them. In a new study for the journal Surgical Innovation, Associate Professor Toby Gordon of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School addresses the ways in which the pandemic, as she writes, has "severely weakened the surgical innovation pipeline and ecosystem."

13 May 2021

Inexpensive test for rapid detection of COVID-19 with 90% accuracy

A low-cost, rapid diagnostic test for COVID-19 developed by Penn Medicine provides COVID-19 results within four minutes with 90 percent accuracy.

12 May 2021

mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines are effective against Indian SARS-CoV-2 variant, says study

A team of scientists recently conducted a study to examine whether natural infection-induced or vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies are capable of eliminating the risk of recently emerged Indian variant (B.1.617.1) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

12 May 2021

Biden boasts about equitable senior vaccination rate by race without data to back it up

During May 3 remarks on the American Families Plan, President Joe Biden boasted that there was not much disparity in the vaccination rates for white Americans and Americans of color who are at least 65.

12 May 2021