Vaccination

Gustav JV Nossal, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Published online: September 2005

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003971

Vaccination is the generic term for immunization procedures. Immunization is a procedure whereby living or nonliving materials are introduced into the body in order to stimulate the defence system, namely the lymphoid tissues, with a view to rendering a person or animal immune to a disease.

Keywords: immunization; nucleic acid; vaccines; adjuvant; side effects; antigen

Figure 1. The last patient to suffer from natural paralytic poliomyelitis in the western hemisphere (Pichinaki, Peru). Widespread immunization has caused the cessation of transmission in the Americas since 1991.
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 Further Reading
    book Levine MM, Woodrow GC, Kaper JB and Cobon GS (eds) (2003) New Generation Vaccines. New York: Marcel Dekker.
    book Nossal GJV and Coppel R (2002) Reshaping Life: Key Issues in Genetic Engineering, 3rd edn. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
    book Nossal GJV (2003) "Vaccines". In: Paul WE (ed.) Fundamental Immunology. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott-Raven.
    book Plotkin SL and Orenstein WA (1999) Vaccines, 3rd edn. Philadelphia: WB Saunders.
    book The Jordan Report, 20th Anniversary (2002) "Accelerated Development of Vaccines". US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health.

Related Sub-Topics:

Vaccines | Viral Vaccines | Medical Microbiology
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Article Title: Vaccination
 
How to Cite close
Nossal, Gustav JV(Sep 2005) Vaccination. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0003971]