• Question: How are vaccines created?

    Asked by TheChosenOne'sSidekick to Angela, Claire, Ian, Robert, Sarah on 16 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Angela Stokes

      Angela Stokes answered on 16 Nov 2014:

      Hi there
      Vaccines are made using the disease-causing virus or bacteria, but in a form that will not harm anybody. Instead, the weakened, killed, or partial virus or bacteria prompts your immune system to develop antibodies, or defenders, against the disease.

      Once it is determined how the virus and bacteria will be modified, vaccines are created through a general three-step process:

      1. Antigen is generated. Viruses are grown in primary cells (i.e. chicken eggs for the influenza vaccine), or on continuous cell lines (i.e. human cultured cells for hepatitis b vaccine); bacteria is grown in bioreactors (i.e. Hib vaccine).

      2. Antigen is isolated from the cells used to create it.

      3. Vaccine is made by adding adjuvant, stabilizers and preservatives. Adjuvants increase immune response of the antigen and stabilizers increase the vaccine’s storage life.

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