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Vaccines and immunisation

Vaccines and the programmes that deliver them: how vaccines are made and work, the national immunisation programme, new vaccines, and the alliances that fund vaccines for the world. Prelims has asked about COVID-19 vaccine platforms and why pneumococcal conjugate vaccines matter for India.

No subject here changed from 16 to 31 August 2026.Show all

mRNA vaccine: A vaccine that delivers genetic instructions for a pathogen's protein, so the body's cells make it and train the immune system without live virus.

Viral vector vaccine: A vaccine that uses a harmless modified virus to carry a gene for the pathogen's protein into cells, which then make it.

Serotype: A variant within a microbial species, told apart by its surface antigens; immunity to one serotype need not protect against another.

Reverse vaccinology: Designing a vaccine by searching a pathogen's genome for proteins suitable to build it on.

adjuvant: A substance added to a vaccine to strengthen and lengthen the immune response to its main ingredient.

Human papillomavirus: A common sexually transmitted virus, whose high risk types cause cervical cancer where the infection persists.

U-WIN: The health ministry's digital platform, built on the Co-WIN model, for registering and tracking routine immunisation.