Question

Hepatitis B vaccine is:
A. Combined vaccine
B. Recombinant antigen vaccine
C. Polysaccharide vaccine
D. DNA vaccine

Answer 1

The term Hepatitis is used for inflammation of liver generally. Hepatitis B vaccines is the vaccine used for preventing Hepatitis B. As per recommendation, it is administered to a newborn child within 24 hours of their birth. If a newborn child is premature or has very low immunity, more doses of vaccine should be administered. The hepatitis B virus is composed of double-stranded DNA virus.

Complete Answer:
Combination vaccines are vaccines composed of two or more vaccines and it provides the same protection to children as that of each individual vaccine. Also, it reduces the number of times a child should be injected with a vaccine, thus reducing the pain of the child. The vaccine DTaP-IPV is a vaccine that gives protection against polio, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.

A recombinant antigen vaccine is produced by recombinant DNA technology, basically genetic engineering technology. For producing Hepatitis B vaccine, part of DNA of Hepatitis B virus is inserted into DNA of yeast cell. Yeast is a type of fungus. The yeast cells with DNA of Hepatitis B virus produce surface proteins or antigens, which can be used as an active ingredient in the vaccine in its purified form. Hence, Hepatitis B vaccine is a recombinant antigen vaccine.

Both recombinant and polysaccharide vaccines use a specific part of bacteria or virus responsible for causing the disease. The polysaccharide vaccine makes use of a specific type of sugar molecule that is polysaccharides present in the outer layer of a concerned bacteria or virus. These sugar molecules are chemically bonded to carrier proteins. The polysaccharide vaccine forms a special type of inactivated vaccine, the vaccines produced from virus or bacteria grown in culture media and then inactivated using chemicals or heat. The vaccine for bacterial meningitis is polysaccharide vaccine.

DNA vaccines are the type of vaccine that produces bacteria or virus specific antigens. When the vaccine is injected into a human body, the DNA or virus or bacteria is reproduced by the human body and then recognized by the immune system of that human body. This triggers an immune response from the body which helps in providing protection against further infection by that virus or bacteria and will continue with the protection.

Hence, the correct answer is option (B).

Note: Students might have misunderstood that Hepatitis B vaccine is DNA vaccine, not recombinant antigen vaccine. This may happen due to the fact that the carrier protein associated with recombinant antigen vaccine is produced in the laboratory and injected into the recipient of that vaccine, whereas in case of DNA vaccine the carrier protein associated with DNA vaccine is generated in host cells. In recombinant vaccine for Hepatitis B, a small piece of DNA of Hepatitis B virus is inserted into DNA encoding an antigen which triggers the immune response into bacterial or mammalian cells. The DNA has a role to play in both types of vaccine-recombinant antigen vaccine and DNA vaccine.