immunization

noun — 3 senses

immunization

noun

Etymology From French immunisation. Coined by Albert Calmette. Equivalent to immunize + -ation or immune + -ization.

1

US The process by which a person is safely exposed in a controlled manner to a material that is designed to prime their immune system against that material.

  • Near-synonym: vaccination (broadly synonymous)
  • Immunization against influenza is important for all child-care workers.
1 more example
  • It will do little for the future of immunization to prepare excellent vaccines, test them to a fare-thee-well for safety and efficacy, and then not insure that they are adequately used.1961, Geoffrey Edsall, “The Future of Immunization”, in Public Health Reports, volume 76, number 9, page 816:
2

US One such exposure.

  • The first immunization a baby gets is against HBV.
  • Our results are consistent with those obtained by other groups screening camelid-derived libraries, where an impressive diversity in the Nb nucleotide sequence, specificity and neutralizing capacity was found, especially after successive immunizations to promote the development of superimmunity.2023 March 14, “Nanobodies against SARS-CoV-2 reduced virus load in the brain of challenged mice and neutralized Wuhan, Delta and Omicron Variants”, in National Library of Medicine:
3

US The process by which any organism's body develops immunity against a pathogen.

  • Immunization via previous infection is not unusual among infectious diseases, but the degree and duration of such immunization varies by disease and depends on other factors as well (such as immunocapability and dietary sufficiency).
Derived terms
active immunization, alloimmunization, autoimmunization, coimmunization, deimmunization, hyperimmunization, immunization passport, isoimmunization, overimmunization, postimmunization, preimmunization, reimmunization, underimmunization, xenoimmunization
Hyponyms
serotherapy

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.