General Information about Vaccines
By vaccinating, we activate the body's defence system to act against specific infectious microbes: vaccinated individuals acquire immunity, or protection, against the disease. Although vaccines may not completely prevent the illness, they may reduce its symptoms and severity. In addition to protecting against complications, disability, and death, vaccines may prevent the spread of infectious microbes.
Vaccines come in various types
Vaccines teach the immune system to recognise pathogens, which it later remembers when encountering them in real life. Immunological memory enables the immune system to respond to the pathogens rapidly and effectively. Some vaccines afford lifelong protection, while others will require booster doses later on.
Vaccines come in various types, some of which contain killed microbes and others live, attenuated, or weakened, pathogens that cannot cause the disease but still activate the immune system. Most vaccines do not contain whole microbes, but rather parts of them, such as proteins, polysaccharides, nucleic acids, or messenger RNA. The administration routes and dosages of vaccines vary: some formulations are administered as injections under the skin or into muscle, while others are given orally as solutions or capsules, or as nasal sprays. Different vaccines can be administered simultaneously within certain guidelines.
Vaccines are among the greatest achievements of medicine. By vaccination, the world has succeeded in eradicating the deadly viral disease smallpox, and the wild poliovirus has also been nearly stamped out. Thanks to our high vaccination coverage, severe childhood diseases and their complications are rarely encountered in Finland anymore.
Vaccines must undergo rigorous clinical trials
Before vaccines can be adopted into use, they must undergo rigorous clinical trials assessing tolerability, safety, potential side effects, as well as immune response and efficacy among target populations.
Vaccine development begins with experiments in sample tubes. Promising formulations are first tested among animals and finally, in phase I, II, and III trials, among human volunteers. Vaccine efficacy is particularly evaluated in large phase III trials mostly conducted internationally at multiple centres. Thus, each vaccine undergoes a lengthy and closely monitored process, and the results of all stages of research are carefully evaluated by regulatory authorities before granting marketing authorisation.
Contact Us
Meilahti Vaccine Research Center (MeVac)
vaccine@hus.fi
tel. +358 50 311 6365
Address:
Biomedicum Helsinki 1
Haartmaninkatu 8
00290 Helsinki