Table 3.

Advantages and disadvantages of various vaccine platforms.

Vaccine Platform	Advantages	Disadvantages	Key Features
Irradiated Parasite	Strong protection, especially with increasing doses	Heterogenous vaccine Parasite life-cycle dependent for development Unethical as some parasite may mature to adult stage	Mimic natural infection
Adjuvanted Protein	Various adjuvants will give different immune responses Shown to be effective Can be used in populations with weakened immune systems	Can be expensive to produce	Immune response varies depending on adjuvant used
Nucleic Acid (DNA based)	Quick and simple design Thermostable Cost effective	Low immunogenicity in humans Enters host cell nucleus	Mostly cell mediated immune responses
Viral Vectored	Specific delivery of antigen to target cells High antigen expression Gene expression can be short or long term	Neutralizing immunity Off target virus shedding	Humoral responses CD8+ T cell responses Th1 dominant CD4+ T cell responses