Vaccines – PharmD Lecture by Wesam A. Abduljabbar

20 English vocabulary flashcards covering key vaccine concepts, immunity types, vaccine categories, administration routes, and related immunology terms from the lecture notes.

Vaccine

A biological preparation containing antigens from a pathogen (live-attenuated, inactivated, or parts of it) that stimulates immunity without causing disease.

Immunization

The process of preparing the body to fight a specific disease by inducing immune resistance through vaccination or antibody transfer.

Passive Immunity

Immediate, short-term protection provided by pre-formed antibodies transferred to an individual without activating their own immune system.

Active Immunity

Long-lasting protection generated when a person’s own immune system produces antibodies and memory cells after exposure to antigens.

Passive Natural Immunity

Maternal antibodies (IgG via placenta; IgA via breast milk) that naturally protect the fetus or newborn.

Active Natural Immunity

Immunity produced after natural infection when pathogens enter the body and trigger an immune response.

Serum (Gamma Globulin) Therapy

Artificial passive immunity achieved by injecting antibody-rich serum from an immune individual into a non-immune person.

Memory Cells

Long-lived B or T lymphocytes produced during active immunity that enable rapid responses upon re-exposure to the same antigen.

Live-Attenuated Vaccine

A vaccine containing a weakened but replicating form of the pathogen that elicits strong, often lifelong immunity (e.g., measles, mumps, rubella).

Heterologous Vaccine

A live-attenuated vaccine derived from an animal pathogen that is non-pathogenic in humans but shares cross-reacting antigens (e.g., cowpox for smallpox).

Killed (Inactivated) Vaccine

A vaccine made of pathogens rendered non-infectious by heat or chemicals; requires multiple doses (e.g., polio, hepatitis A).

Sub-Unit Vaccine

A vaccine containing only specific antigenic parts (epitopes) of a pathogen rather than the whole microbe (e.g., hepatitis B surface antigen).

Recombinant Vector Vaccine

A vaccine using a harmless carrier virus or bacterium engineered to express genes from a target pathogen, inducing immunity against that pathogen.

Toxoid Vaccine

A vaccine composed of inactivated bacterial toxins that prompts the immune system to neutralize the natural toxin (e.g., diphtheria, tetanus).

Routes of Vaccine Administration

Common methods include deep subcutaneous or intramuscular, oral, intranasal, intradermal, and scarification routes.

Antigen

Any molecular structure (often from a pathogen) recognized by antibodies or T-cell receptors, triggering an immune response.

Epitope

The specific part of an antigen recognized and bound by an antibody or T-cell receptor; basis for sub-unit vaccine design.

IgG

The main antibody class crossing the placenta to provide passive natural immunity to the fetus.

IgA

The antibody class present in breast milk that supplies passive natural immunity to the newborn’s mucosal surfaces.

Long-Term Protection

Characteristic of active immunity where memory cells provide prolonged defense, unlike the transient effect of passive immunity.