Vaccines are injections (shots), liquids, pills, or nasal sprays that you take to teach your body's immune system to recognize and defend against harmful germs. For example, there are vaccines to protect against diseases caused by: Viruses, like the ones that cause the flu and COVID-19.

Importance of Vaccine

Vaccines work by teaching the body's immune system to recognize and defend against harmful viruses or bacteria before getting an infection, and reduce the chance of getting certain infectious diseases.

How do vaccines work?

When you get a vaccine, it sparks your immune response, helping your body fight off and remember the germ so it can attack it if the germ ever invades again. And since vaccines are made of very small amounts of weak or dead germs, they won't make you sick.

Why are vaccines safe?

Before FDA licensing, vaccines are studied in larger populations than are other drugs. Once licensed and put to use, multiple layers of safety surveillance continue as long as the vaccines are distributed.

The main types of vaccines that act in different ways are:

Live-attenuated vaccines.
Inactivated vaccines.
Subunit, recombinant, conjugate, and polysaccharide vaccines.
Toxoid vaccines.
mRNA vaccines.
Viral vector vaccines.

Pneumococcal Vaccine

Pneumococcal disease includes various illnesses caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae. Different types of pneumococcal disease include pneumococcal bacteremia, meningitis, and pneumonia.

The pneumococcal vaccine is recommended for adults based on various risk factors. It is recommended for the following groups:

Anyone who is 65 or older
Anyone between 19 and 65 years of age with asthma, or who is a smoker
Anyone between the ages of 2 and 65 with one of the following long-term health problems: heart disease, lung disease, sickle cell disease, diabetes, alcoholism, cirrhosis, leaks of cerebrospinal fluid, or cochlear implant
Anyone between the ages of 2 and 65 with a condition that lowers resistance to infection, including lymphoma, leukemia, HIV or AIDS, kidney failure, a damaged or missing spleen, or organ transplant
Anyone between the ages of 2 and 65 receiving a treatment that lowers resistance to infection, including radiation therapy, some cancer drugs, or long-term steroids
Anyone living in a nursing home or long-term care facility

COVID-19 vaccines

Major progress has been made with the COVID-19 vaccination response, and it is critical to continue the progress, particularly for those most at risk of disease.

WHO recommends a simplified single-dose regime for primary immunization for most COVID-19 vaccines which would improve acceptance and uptake and provide adequate protection at a time when most people have had at least one prior infection.

Available data suggest the monovalent Omicron XBB vaccines provide modestly enhanced protection compared to bivalent variant-containing vaccines and monovalent index virus vaccines.

When monovalent XBB vaccines are not available, any available WHO emergency-use listed or prequalified vaccine, bivalent variant-containing or monovalent index virus vaccines, may be used since they continue to provide benefits against severe disease in high-risk groups.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine

HPV vaccines protect against multiple strains of HPV that cause cervical, vaginal, and vulvar cancer. One of the two HPV vaccines also provides protection against genital warts.

HPV vaccination is recommended for children in the routine childhood immunization schedule, but is also recommended for adults who were not vaccinated as children.

Women who are 26 years old or younger can receive either version of the HPV vaccine for protection against cervical, vaginal, and vulvar cancer. The vaccine may also protect against oral cancer, and the quadrivalent version of the vaccine protects against genital warts.
Men who are 26 years old or younger can receive the quadrivalent vaccine, which offers protection against genital warts and may protect against oral cancer caused by HPV.

Influenza Vaccine

Seasonal influenza vaccination is recommended annually for all adults; in fact, it is recommended for everyone over 6 months. The vaccine protects against respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. Because new strains of influenza appear frequently, the seasonal flu vaccine usually changes each year. Each season’s vaccine is designed to protect against three strains of influenza. Influenza vaccine is available as an injected or inhaled vaccine, but for adults 50 years of age and older, only the injectable vaccine is recommended.

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Hepatitis A Vaccine

Hepatitis A vaccines were added to the routine childhood immunization schedule in 2006, but are also recommended for adults at an increased risk for hepatitis A. This includes the following groups:

Anyone who uses illegal drugs
Anyone who works with non-human primates infected with hepatitis A, or who works with hepatitis A in a research setting
Anyone with chronic liver disease
Anyone with clotting factor disorders
Separately, hepatitis A vaccination may be considered for food handlers because of their potential to transmit the virus to others.

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