why do some vaccines have live pathogens but others have killed pathogens?
Can you get a disease from the vaccine that’s supposed to prevent it? And why do some vaccines have live pathogens but others have killed pathogens?
Vaccines that are made with killed versions of pathogens—or with only a part of the pathogen—are not able to cause illness. When a person receives these vaccines, it is impossible for him or her to become ill with the disease.
Live, attenuated (or weakened) vaccines are theoretically capable of causing illness: because they can still replicate (though not well), mutation is possible, which can result in a virulent form of the pathogen. However, they are designed with this in mind, and attenuated to minimize this possibility. Reversion to virulent form is a problem with some forms of the oral polio vaccine (OPV), which is why only the inactivated form (IPV) is now used in the United States.
It is important to note that attenuated vaccines can cause serious problems for individuals with weakened immune systems, such as cance…
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