Table 1.

Advantages and disadvantages of different vaccine platforms

Vaccine platform	Advantages	Disadvantages	Clinically approved examples
Whole inactivated virus vaccine	Stronger immune response; Safer than live attenuated virus	Potential epitope alteration by inactivation process	Typhoid, Cholera, Hepatitis A virus, Plague, Rabies, Influenza, Polio (Salk)
Live attenuated virus vaccine	Stronger immune response; Preservation of native antigen; Mimicking natural infection	Risk of residual virulence, especially for immunocompromised people	Measles, Mumps, Polio (Sabin), Rota virus, Yellow Fever, Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG), Rubella, Varicella
Viral vector vaccine	Stronger immune response; Preservation of native antigen; Mimicking natural infection	More complicated manufacturing process; Risk of genomic integration; Response dampened by pre-existing immunity against vector	Ebola virus
Subunit vaccine	Safe and well-tolerated	Lower immunogenicity; Requirement of adjuvant or conjugate to increase immunogenicity	Pertussis, Influenza, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae type b
Viral-like particle vaccine	Safe and well-tolerated; mimicking native virus conformation	Lower immunogenicity; More complicated manufacturing process	Hepatitis B virus, Human Papillomavirus
DNA vaccine	Safe and well-tolerated; Stable under room temperature; Highly adaptable to new pathogen; Native antigen expression	Lower immunogenicity; Difficult administration route; Risk of genomic integration	NA
RNA vaccine	Safe and well-tolerated; Highly adaptable to new pathogen; Native antigen expression	Lower immunogenicity; Requirement of low temperature storage and transportation; Potential risk of RNA-induced interferon response	NA