Chapter 18 - Contemporary vaccine approaches and role of next-generation vaccine adjuvants in managing viral diseases

Abstract

Newer technology for understanding host–pathogen interactions and immunity may lead to effective vaccines designing. In modern medicine, vaccinology is the most important cornerstone that provides an improved quality of life by controlling the transmission of diseases across communities. Conventional methods for the vaccine development have several limitations such as that they are slow, time consuming, and fail to meet the requirements of a new vaccine during pandemics. A deeper understanding of human immune response is necessary along with novel technologies in antigen discovery and formulation strategies for the development of newer vaccines. The novel technologies for designing adjuvants, vectors, nucleic acid vaccines, and structure-based antigen design are currently being used for vaccine research. Recent approaches like structural vaccinology, recombinant DNA technology, reverse vaccinology, polysaccharide chemistry, and synthetic RNA vaccines have enhanced efficacy for selection, target identification, and development of next-generation vaccines. The attempts required to accomplish the increasing demands for next-generation vaccines designed for emerging pathogens and new indications, are only achieved by sustainable research development models.