noun the virus of vaccinia used in vaccination.
2. vaccine ·adj of or pertaining to cows; pertaining to, derived from, or caused by, vaccinia; as, vaccine virus; the vaccine disease.
3. vaccine ·noun any preparation used to render an organism immune to some disease, by inducing or increasing the natural immunity mechanisms. prior to 1995, such preparations usually contained killed organisms of the type for which immunity was desired, and sometimes used live organisms having attenuated virulence. since that date, preparations containing only specific antigenic portions of the pathogenic organism are also used, some of which are prepared by genetic engineering techniques.