What are Vaccines? Describe the Process of Vaccine Production.

What are vaccines? Describe the process of vaccine production?

Answer: A vaccine is an antigenic preparation used to stimulate the production of antibodies and induce immunity against several diseases.

1. Vaccination is the most important method of preventing infection of micro-organisms, like bacteria and viruses.
2. The process of vaccination or the first vaccine was produced by Edward Jenner in 1796.
3. He derived the word vaccine from latin word vacca means’cow.
4. He found that milkmaid once attacked by a cowpox diesease (not so harmful) were resistance to smallpox.
5. Jenner concluded that due to injection of cowpox virus human body respond to both cowpox and smallpox virus.
6. This led to the discovery of smallpox vaccine.

Vaccine production:

1. The organisms are grown in medium for production of large amounts of toxins.
2. By altering these toxins, toxoids are produced.
3. These toxoids are not toxic.
4. These toxoids acts as an antigens our immune system recognise them and produce antibodies against these antigens.
5. The live organism is attenuated or deactivated so that it is no longer able to cause illness.
6. The resulting mixture is diluted and adjuvant is added.
7. Adjuvant is a substance which improves the immune response to the toxoids.