Also known as: Inoculation
A substance administered to trigger an immune response against a particular disease. Most vaccines are designed to prevent a person from ever having a particular disease or to only have a mild case of the disease. However, therapeutic vaccines are intended to treat specific diseases. Although researchers are testing vaccines both to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, no HIV vaccine is currently approved for use outside of clinical trials.
See Related Term(s): Preventive HIV Vaccine, Therapeutic HIV Vaccine