Biotechnology and vaccines

Abstract

Biotechnology has demonstrated its importance for health development, especially in the discovery of new drugs and production of vaccines. On account of the occurrence of many diseases that have killed millions of people in the world, vaccines were developed to control infections and prevent diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, protozoans and fungi, and even eradicate them, as is the case of smallpox. Vaccines can be of first, second and third generation. Currently, vaccine manufacturing can be directed to the use of DNA containing the gene that encodes an antigenic protein. The present work is a literature review, with the objective to present the first-, second- and third-generation vaccines, as well as to make an analysis of the use of these vaccines in Brazil.