Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that helps the body's immune system recognise and fight a specific disease-causing germ, providing protection without causing the illness.

How vaccines work

Vaccines contain a weakened, inactivated or partial form of a germ, or instructions to make one of its proteins. The immune system learns to recognise it and responds quickly to a real infection.

Impact

Vaccination has eradicated smallpox and greatly reduced diseases such as polio, measles and tetanus. Vaccines were central to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frequently asked questions

What does a vaccine do?

It trains the immune system to fight a specific disease.

Who developed the first vaccine?

Edward Jenner pioneered vaccination against smallpox in 1796.