Final answer:
Live attenuated vaccines weaken pathogens to stimulate a comprehensive immune response. Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines contain specific antigens of a pathogen. Inactivated vaccines contain killed or inactivated pathogens and toxoid vaccines contain inactivated toxins. mRNA vaccines introduce genetic instructions to produce antigens.
Step-by-step explanation:
Live attenuated vaccines expose an individual to a weakened strain of a pathogen, stimulating a comprehensive immune response. They activate both cellular and humoral immunity and can lead to natural transmission of the attenuated pathogen.
Inactivated vaccines contain killed or inactivated pathogens, stimulating an immune response without causing an active infection. They predominantly activate humoral immunity.
Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines contain specific antigens of a pathogen, either chemically degraded or produced through genetic engineering. They stimulate an immune response without exposing the patient to whole cells or viruses.
Toxoid vaccines contain inactivated toxins from a pathogen, stimulating an immune response against the toxin. They mainly stimulate humoral immunity and are used for diseases caused by toxins.
mRNA vaccines introduce genetic instructions (mRNA) to produce specific viral or bacterial antigens in the body, triggering an immune response.