What are the major types of vaccines?

The major types of vaccines include live attenuated, inactivated, subunit, recombinant, and mRNA vaccines. Each of these categories represents a different approach to stimulating immune responses.

Live attenuated vaccines contain weakened forms of the pathogen that cause disease. Because they closely mimic a natural infection, they elicit strong and lasting immune responses. These vaccines require careful storage and handling to maintain their effectiveness.

Inactivated vaccines contain pathogens that have been killed. They stimulate an immune response without the risk of causing disease. However, they typically require multiple doses to achieve and maintain immunity.

Subunit vaccines include only parts of the pathogen, like proteins or sugars. They can trigger a strong immune response without including any live components. This makes them safer, particularly for immunocompromised individuals.

Recombinant vaccines are created using genetic engineering techniques to produce specific antigens. This allows for precise targeting of the immune response while minimizing the risks associated with using whole pathogens.

mRNA vaccines represent a newer approach, delivering messenger RNA to cells to instruct them to produce a protein that generates an immune response. This technology has been pivotal in rapidly developing effective vaccines against diseases like COVID-19.

In contrast, the other options either refer to non-vaccine concepts or categorize vaccines in