Vaccines are of following types:
Toxoids:
- Certain organisms such as diphtheria and Tetanus bacilli produce toxins.
- The toxins produced by these organisms are detoxicated and are used in the preparation of vaccines. e.g., diphtheria toxoid and tetanus toxoid.
- These vaccines provide passive immunity for short period.
Live vaccines or attenuated vaccines:
- These vaccines are prepared from live (generally attenuated-the pathogen is made weakened to make it non-virulent) organisms.
- E.g.,-OPV, (Oral Polio Vaccine), BCG, (Bacillus Calmette Guerin), small pox, yellow fever, vaccine, influenza vaccine.
- These vaccines provide active life long immunity.
Killed vaccines or inactivated vaccines:
- Such vaccines are prepared by killing the pathogenic organisms by heat/ultraviolet rays/ alcohol/ formalin/ phenol.
- E.g., -Typhoid vaccine, Salk Polio Vaccine, Typhus Vaccine, Cholera Vaccine, Rabies Vaccine, Plague vaccine, TAB* vaccine
Combinations:
- If more than one kind of immunizing agent is included in the vaccine, it is called a mixed or combined vaccine.
- Some of the well known combinations are as follows: DPT (Diphtheria + Pertussis + Tetanus), DT (Diphtheria + Tetanus), DP (Diphtheria + Pertussis), Tetanus + Influenza, DPT and typhoid vaccine, MMR (Measles + Mumps + Rubella), Measles + Rubella.
Vaccines are also classified as follows:
First generation vaccines:
- These vaccines are developed by conventional technique using whole micro-organisms.
- They are never of uniform quality and produce side effects.
Second generation vaccines:
- These vaccines are produced by recombinant DNA technique/ genetic engineering. e.g., Hepatitis-B virus vaccine, herpes virus vaccine, pneumonia vaccine.
- The yeast derived recombinant hepatitis B virus vaccine is the first commercially available human vaccine, prepared by the genetic engineering technology.
- Thus, hepatitis B vaccine is produced from transgenic yeast by recombinant DNA technology.
Third generation vaccines (Synthetic vaccines): - These are chemically synthesized multivalent vaccine.
- These Vaccines have high purity.
- eg, Vaccine against diphtheria toxin developed by Audibert et. at., 1981, leukemia virus vaccine.
