vaccine
vaccine — noun
1. A medical preparation designed to protect humans or animals from catching a spec
A medical preparation designed to protect humans or animals from catching a specific illness. It uses a harmless version of the germ, teaching the body's defences to spot and eliminate the real germ if it enters the body later on.
The nurse gave Nora a vaccine against measles before she started primary school.
collocation: vaccine against [disease]
Doctors recommend that older adults get a flu vaccine every autumn to stay healthy.
collocation: get a [disease] vaccine
Scientists developed a new vaccine for COVID-19 in record time, saving millions of lives.
Pedro's parents took him to the clinic to receive his polio vaccine as a baby.
Health workers delivered vaccines to remote mountain villages by boat and on foot.
- immunisation
Refers to the entire process of becoming immune, not the substance itself; broader in meaning.
- inoculation
Older, more technical term; often implies a scratch or puncture rather than a standard injection.
- shot
Informal and mainly US; refers to the injection itself rather than the medical preparation.
- jab
Informal and mainly British; common in everyday speech and news headlines.
用法筆記
Usually followed by 'against' or 'for' to name the target disease (e.g., a vaccine against rabies / a vaccine for measles). Used as both a countable noun ('two different vaccines') and an uncountable noun ('enough vaccine for everyone'). Most vaccines are injected, but some are given orally or as a nasal spray.