The main downside of live vaccines is that they can (but rarely do) cause the disease theyโre designed to prevent, typically in immune-compromised individuals, who either receive the vaccine or are a close contact of someone who did.
em_goldmanAlso in the case of the live oral polio vaccine, there's concern of viral reactivation in the feces of people who took the vaccine causing infection of others, even if the original person is protected. I would guess rotavirus is similar but I think the population risk:benefit favors live rotavirus vaccination in lieu of no vaccination, whereas the option of a killed polio virus vaccination is way more worth it than the risk of a polio virus outbreak. +5
aakbI thought the same thing. Active immunization is slower while passive immunization is faster. but both forms of vaccines (live and killed) are active forms of immunization. In both cases, it takes time for your body to develop a response to the immunization. Passive forms of immunization would include receiving the preformed antibodies (ie. from breast milk) +1
submitted by โbwdc(697)
The main downside of live vaccines is that they can (but rarely do) cause the disease theyโre designed to prevent, typically in immune-compromised individuals, who either receive the vaccine or are a close contact of someone who did.