There are several types of vaccines. Each type is designed to teach your immune system how to fight off certain kinds of germsâ and the serious diseases they cause.
Live, attenuated vaccines fight viruses and bacteria. These vaccines contain a version of the living virus or bacteria that has been weakened so it does not cause serious disease in people with healthy immune systems. Inactivated vaccines also fight viruses and bacteria. These vaccines are made from the virus or bacteria that has been killed or parts of the virus or bacteria. Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines are made from pieces of the virus or bacteria. Because these vaccines use only specific pieces of the germ, they give a very strong immune response thatâs targeted to key parts of the germ. Toxoid vaccines are used against bacteria that produce toxins (poisons). The toxins are weakened so they cannot cause illness and are used to create the vaccine. When the immune system receives a vaccine containing a harmless toxoid, it learns how to fight off the natural toxin. mRNA vaccines contain material from the virus that causes COVID-19 that gives our cells instructions for how to make a harmless protein that is unique to the virus. After our cells make copies of the protein, they destroy the genetic material from the vaccine.
