Question

how is vaccine produced?

Answer 1

The first step in order to produce a vaccine is generating the antigen that will trigger the immune response. For this purpose the pathogen’s proteins or DNA need to be grown and harvested using the following mechanisms:

Viruses are grown on primary cells such as cells from chicken embryos or using fertilised eggs (e.g. influenza vaccine) or cell lines that reproduce repeatedly (e.g. hepatitis A)Bacteria are grown in bioreactors which are devices that use a particular growth medium that optimises the production of the antigensRecombinant proteins derived from the pathogen can be generated either in yeast, bacteria or cell cultures.

Answer 2

The hepatitis B and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines are made this way. The vaccine is composed of a protein that resides on the surface of the virus. This strategy can be used when an immune response to one part of the virus (or bacteria) is responsible for protection against disease.