Bacteria vaccines can be designed for increasing immunity against the same bacteria or its toxins.

• The first type (anti-bacterial) reduce their infection capacity by increasing the resistance of the body.
• The second type of vaccine neutralizes the toxins that eventually could be produced (for example, the tetanus vaccine).

Antibacterial vaccines can be highly specific and designed to target a single bacterial species, utilizing in their production purified structural components of a single type of bacteria (for example, a polysaccharide of Hemophilus influenzae type B). In addition, vaccines can be multivalent, comprising different structures of different bacteria.

Multivalent Bacterial Vaccines (MBV)

Multivalent bacterial vaccines are less selective but cover a broader range of action. They can include complete deactivated bacteria or fragments thereof. The vaccines made with complete bacteria include antigenic structures (antigen = that induces immunity) , common to multiple bacterial species (for instance, cell wall, external and internal membrane, intracellular organelles). The stimulation of the immune system achieved with these structures exceeds the specific response against them due to the large capacity of these substances to activate natural or innate immunity. Therefore, multivalent bacterial vaccines can have a stimulating effect on the immune system because, in addition to generating a specific response against the vaccine components, they increase resistance against infections caused by other microorganisms that are not included in the vaccine.