Following the latest developments in vaccines for Covid-19, this term has become commonplace in our conversations. Therefore, it seems the perfect time to learn how to use it in context. In other words, to learn some collocations or words that are used with it naturally.
A vaccine can protect somebody against something (e.g. flu) or it can prevent something (e.g. a vaccine to prevent tuberculosis).
You can have or receive a vaccine (or a vaccine shot) or a nurse can give you a vaccine or administer it. Sometimes one dose of a vaccine is enough, sometimes you need to receive multiple doses.
Vaccines are developed against disease and they confer immunity to it. Countries need to raise money for vaccine research. Before its efficacy has been proved, they are experimental. Vaccine trials aim at establishing the safety of a vaccine before the vaccine is distributed.
Anti-vaccine activists have drastically increased their following on social media since 2019. Vaccine hesitancy is a reluctance or refusal to be vaccinated. However, anti-vax or anti-vaccination arguments are refuted by scientific consensus.
Health care workers, the elderly, and other high-risk groups have been given the highest priority to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
Vaccines will be administered to them first, following a vaccine programme that ensures everybody has access to it. This has generated a high demand for vaccines.
Related vocabulary
Vaccinate, inoculate: give a vaccine
In the Basque Country, children are vaccinated/inoculated against chickenpox or varicella when they are 10. A more specialed medical term to describe the same action is: immunize. As with the other two verbs, someone is immunized against something.
Jab (UK): synonym for injection or vaccine (informal).
Newspapers announce that there is a high chance that the UK jab will be rolled out before the end of 2020, according to the lead researcher of Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine.
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