(vak‵sĭ-nā'shŏn )

[ vaccinate ]

1. Inoculation with any vaccine or toxoid to establish resistance to a specific infectious disease.

   SEE: immunization.

2. A scar left on the skin by inoculation of a vaccine.

antitumor v.The injection of tumor-associated antigens or messenger RNA, as from melanomas or other solid tumors into cancer patients in order to raise a long-lasting and effective immune response against the tumor. The tumor antigen is often presented to the vaccinee in the presence of dendritic cells in order to improve the presentation of the antigen and heighten the immune response. SYN: antitumor vaccine; tumor vaccine.

birth-dose v.The giving of a vaccine within 12 or 24 hours of delivery to prevent transmission of infections like hepatitis B from mother to infant.

catch-up v.The immunization of unvaccinated children at the most convenient times (as on the first day of school) rather than at the optimal time for antibody production. Because many children miss vaccines at regularly scheduled times, catch-up immunization offers unvaccinated children, their families, and the communities in which they live a second opportunity for disease prevention and control. SYN: catch-up immunization.

heterologous prime-boost v. The vaccination of a subject with antigens that have either overlapping nucleotides or the same antigens carried by different vectoring systems. It is colloquially known as mix-and -match vaccination.

incomplete v.Administration of one or more injections in a vaccine series, but not the complete series. SYN: partial vaccination.

mass v.The use of vaccine during an outbreak of a communicable disease to try to prevent or stop an epidemic or pand emic.

mix-and -match v. SYN: vaccination, heterologous prime-boost.

partial v.Incomplete vaccination.

prime-boost v.A two-stage vaccination in which an antigen is delivered to the patient with two heterologous vectors. The vaccines are given several months apart. With this vaccination CD8+ memory T cells that have high affinity for injected antigen and the humoral (antibody) immune response are both stimulated.