vaccine

/vækˈsin/

/vækˈsin/

Other forms: vaccines

To prevent you from getting sick, a doctor will give you a shot with a vaccine in it, which is a mixture that teaches your body how to fight against viruses and diseases.

It’s fascinating how vaccines work. A dead or really weak strain of a virus is injected into your body, and your system creates antibodies specifically designed to fight that particular virus. Once your body learns how to make those antibodies, you become immune to the virus, and it can’t make you sick. The word comes from the Latin vacca, meaning “cow,” because in 1796 a doctor used “cow pox” viruses to create a vaccine to prevent smallpox. Thank you, cows.

Definitions of vaccine

1. noun

   immunogen consisting of a suspension of weakened or dead pathogenic cells injected in order to stimulate the production of antibodies
   synonyms: vaccinum

   types:

   DPT vaccine

   abbreviation for combination vaccine against diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus toxoids; usually given in a series of injections in early childhood

   Pneumovax, pneumococcal vaccine

   vaccine (trade name Pneumovax) effective against the 23 most common strains of pneumococcus

   poliovirus vaccine

   vaccine prepared from poliovirus to provide immunity to poliomyelitis

   proteosome, proteosome vaccine

   a form of vaccine that can be administered by an inhaler

   OPV, Sabin vaccine, TOPV, oral poliovirus vaccine, trivalent live oral poliomyelitis vaccine

   an oral vaccine (containing live but weakened poliovirus) that is given to provide immunity to poliomyelitis

   IPV, Salk vaccine

   a poliovirus vaccine consisting of inactivated polio virus that is injected subcutaneously to provide immunity to poliomyelitis

   type of:

   immunizing agent, immunogen

   any substance or organism that provokes an immune response (produces immunity) when introduced into the body