Vaccine Technologies and Platforms for Infectious Diseases: Current Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities

Area of Science:

• Vaccinology
• Immunology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Vaccination is crucial for public health, offering cost-effective protection for humans and animals.
• Diverse vaccine manufacturing platforms exist, including inactivated, toxoid, live attenuated, and subunit vaccines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advances in vaccine technologies and platforms.
• To focus on the mechanisms of action, advantages, and drawbacks of novel vaccine types.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of vaccine manufacturing processes.
• Analysis of emerging vaccine technologies, including nucleic acid vaccines (DNA and mRNA).

Main Results:

• Identification of multiple vaccine manufacturing forms and platforms.
• Emergence of innovative nucleic acid vaccines as a novel category.
• Summary of mechanisms, advantages, and potential drawbacks of various vaccine technologies.

Conclusions:

• Recent developments in biomedical engineering and immunology have spurred innovation in vaccine platforms.
• Nucleic acid vaccines represent a significant advancement in vaccinology.
• Understanding the diverse vaccine technologies is key to optimizing public health strategies.