Veterinary Vaccines: Types, Mechanisms, and Importance in Disease Prevention: A Review

Vaccines are all biological substances produced from living things and administered to trigger the host’s body defense system to develop immunity against a specific pathogen from which they were produced. They work by stimulating either humoral or cell-mediated immunity, or both, to differentiate. There are several types of vaccines, like live attenuated, killed, or inactivated vaccines, cell membrane compounds, or toxoids. Vaccines are important for disease prevention, enhancing the efficiency of food production, and reducing or preventing transmission of zoonotic and foodborne infections to people. Even though vaccination is the most powerful and costeffective weapon of disease prevention, there are several factors such as alterations in the vaccines, maternal antibodies, immunosuppression, wrong timing of vaccination, missing booster vaccination, inadequate dosage, and adjuvants used in the vaccine that can cause vaccine failure. Therefore care should be taken in vaccine handling, storing, transporting, and administering; care should be taken in the timing of vaccination; serotypes of agents should be identified before preparing vaccines; and there should be a training program for people who are involved in vaccination, vaccine storage, and handling activities to ensure vaccine potency and maximize effectiveness.