What does vaccination mean?
Vaccination is the medical practice of administering a vaccine to help a person’s immune system learn to recognize and resist a specific disease. It is central to modern public health because it can reduce infection, serious illness, hospitalization, and death, although the level of protection varies by vaccine and disease. The term is used both for the individual act of giving a vaccine and, more broadly, for organized programmes intended to protect communities. In everyday use, vaccination is generally associated with children, routine immunisation, travel medicine, and major public-health campaigns. It can also carry a strong sense of prevention and collective responsibility, especially in discussions of school requirements and disease outbreaks. The word derives from the same Latin root as vaccine, reflecting the historic role of cowpox in the development of vaccination.
nounVaccination is the act or process of giving someone a vaccine to stimulate immunity to a particular disease. It may also refer more broadly to a vaccination programme or campaign.
- The act or process of administering a vaccine to produce immunity to a disease.
- A public-health programme or campaign involving the administration of vaccines.
"Routine vaccination provides essential protection against serious infectious diseases."
"The clinic offers free vaccination against seasonal influenza."
"A national vaccination campaign aimed to increase coverage among children and older adults."
Used for separate doses, sessions, or instances of vaccination; usually plural when referring to a group receiving vaccines.
"The hospital administered thousands of vaccinations during the campaign."
Vaccination is named for the Latin vacca, meaning “cow,” a reminder that its history began with using cowpox to protect people from smallpox.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Words that share this root
How vaccination is actually used
The word is generally formal and neutral in medical, governmental, and educational contexts. “Immunisation” is common in British English, while “immunization” is common in American English. Vaccination can be used as a countable noun for an individual dose or session, or as an uncountable noun for the process or programme.
Easily confused with vaccination
A vaccine is the biological preparation that is administered, whereas vaccination is the act or process of administering it.