Making Vaccines

  • By Rick Groleau
  • Posted 11.13.01
  • NOVA

Vaccines work by generating an immune response in the body against some kind of pathogen—a virus, bacterium, or some other agent that causes a disease. A vaccine exposes the immune system to a less-threatening version of the pathogen and, in effect, primes it to recognize and quickly eliminate a more dangerous version should it ever invade the body. Here, see how various kinds of vaccines are made.

Launch Interactive Printable Version

How are vaccines made? Create six vaccines in our virtual laboratory, using a different technique to produce each one.

This feature appeared on the site for the NOVA program Killer Disease on Campus.

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© WGBH/NOVA

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