Therapeutic vaccine

The Wikipedia entry therapeutic vaccines on was started on November 10, 2019‎.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Therapeutic_vaccines&action=history

The concept of “therapeutic vaccines” has been on the main Vaccine page since at least September 2017.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vaccine&diff=prev&oldid=798616591

Vaccines can be prophylactic (example: to prevent or ameliorate the effects of a future infection by a natural or “wild” pathogen), or therapeutic (e.g., vaccines against cancer are being investigated).

Generically, the process of artificial induction of immunity, in an effort to protect against infectious disease, works by ‘priming’ the immune system with an ‘immunogen’. Stimulating immune responses with an infectious agent is known as immunization. Vaccination includes various ways of administering immunogens.

Some vaccines are administered after the patient already has contracted a disease. Vaccines given after exposure to smallpox, within the first three days, are reported to attenuate the disease considerably, and vaccination up to a week after exposure probably offers some protection from disease or may reduce the severity of disease. The first rabies immunization was given by Louis Pasteur to a child after he was bitten by a rabid dog. Since then, it has been found that, in people with healthy immune systems, four doses of rabies vaccine over 14 days, wound care, and treatment of the bite with rabies immune globulin, commenced as soon as possible after exposure, is effective in preventing rabies in humans. Other examples include experimental AIDS, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease vaccines. Such immunizations aim to trigger an immune response more rapidly and with less harm than natural infection.

Most vaccines are given by hypodermic injection as they are not absorbed reliably through the intestines. Live attenuated polio, some typhoid, and some cholera vaccines are given orally to produce immunity in the bowel. While vaccination provides a lasting effect, it usually takes several weeks to develop, while passive immunity (the transfer of antibodies) has immediate effect.