Does a vaccine contain dead diseases?

Answer 1

Yes, the kind given by injection are considered "dead", because they are in an inactive state, they don't make you sick. Other vaccines can be made with live "attenuated" viruses, meaning they are active but only partially, since they have been treated to be too weak to cause disease in people who have otherwise healthy immune systems.

Answer 2

Yes, some vaccines have "live" viruses in them, but they have been weakened to the point that they can not make you sick; but still can trigger your immune system to provide immunity to the full strength bug if you encounter it in the wild. These vaccines are called attenuated, which means weakened.

Other vaccines are made from viruses that have been destroyed ("Killed" viruses are not technically a "living" thing). They may use them whole or only pieces of them in the vaccine.

Answer 3

Vaccines contain the organisms that cause the disease. The organisms in the vaccine may be dead/inactive, may be only incomplete parts of, or may be alive/active but severely weakened to make them unable to cause an infection. They can not cause the disease, but do make your immune system believe they can to trick your body into making antibodies to disable the organism now and store the antibodies, or pattern for the antibodies, to be used if you are exposed in the future to the "real thing". See the related questions for more information about vaccines and how they work.

Answer 4

A virus is nonliving. It is no more living than a virus that infects your computer.

Answer 5

no a vaccine can only prevent you from getting a virus if you already have it a vaccine will NOT help