| Active immunity can be acquired by natural disease or by vaccination. |
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| Vaccines stimulate production of antibodies and other components of the immune mechanism. |
| They consist of either: |
| > a live attenuated form of a virus (e.g. measles, mumps and rubella vaccine) or bacteria (e.g. BCG vaccine) or |
| > inactivated preparations of the virus (e.g. influenza vaccine) or bacteria, or |
| > detoxified exotoxins produced by the micro-organism (e.g. tetanus vaccine), or |
| > extracts of a micro-organism, which may be derived from the organism (e.g. pneumococcal vaccine) or produced by |
| recombinant DNA technology (e.g. hepatitis B vaccine) |
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| All healthcare support workers required to administer vaccinations should be appropriately trained. For guidance on the |
minimum standards of training please click here.
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| Non-clinical healthcare support workers will administer vaccinations following Patient Group Directions (PGDs). |
| For a full list of Patient Group Directions please click here. |
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