The act, art, or practice of vaccinating, or inoculating with the cowpox, in order to prevent or mitigate an attack of smallpox
Inoculation of a substance (vaccine) into the body for the purpose of producing active immunity against a disease The vaccine is usually a weakened culture of the agent causing the disease; the use of vaccines is a cornerstone of preventive medicine Vaccination was used in ancient times in China, India and Persia, and was introduced to the West in the late 18th century by E Jenner Vaccinations have eradicated smallpox and are used today to prevent diphtheria, poliomyelitis, rabies and typhoid Experimental vaccines for certain cancers have been developed for laboratory mice See also Inoculation
Vaccination has resulted in the eradication of smallpox; elimination of poliomyelitis in the Americas; and control of measles, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type b, and other infectious diseases in the United States and other parts of the world
The process of protecting against infectious disease by introducing into the body a vaccine that stimulates a primary immune response and the production of memory cells against the disease-causing agent
Giving a killed or weakened virus or bacteria in order to stimulate the immune system to protect the person from that organism at next exposure
—A form of immunization in which killed or weakened microorganisms are placed into the body, where antibodies against them are developed; if the same types of microorganisms enter the body again, they will be destroyed by the antibodies
The introduction into the body of bacteria or viruses (or parts or products of them) that have previously been treated to make them harmless for the purposes of inducing the development of immunity (See also immunization )
The injection into the body of killed or weakened organisms to give the body resistance against disease
Artificial introduction of a killed or attenuated pathogen to promote protective immunity See vaccine