With reference to recent developments regarding ‘Recombinant Vector Vaccines’, consider the following statements:
- 1.Genetic engineering is applied in the development of these vaccines.
- 2.Bacteria and viruses are used as vectors.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2
Both statements are correct: a recombinant vector vaccine is built by genetic engineering, and the carrier (vector) that delivers the disease-causing agent's gene into our cells is a harmless virus or bacterium.
- ✓ 1. Recombinant DNA technology lets scientists make a pathogen's antigen in bacteria or yeast, as with the hepatitis B vaccine from yeast. Recombinant vector vaccines rest on the same gene-splicing methods.
- ✓ 2. NIAID, part of the US National Institutes of Health, describes recombinant vector vaccines as those that use a harmless virus or bacterium as a vector, or carrier, to introduce genetic material into cells. Covishield is a vectored vaccine that uses a virus as the carrier.
Remember · Recombinant vector vaccine = genetic engineering plus a harmless virus or bacterium as the carrier that delivers the pathogen's gene into our cells.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Biology, Ch 7 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Biology, Ch 9 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 12 · Biology, Chapter 7 “Recombinant DNA technology has allowed the production of antigenic polypeptides of pathogen in bacteria or yeast.”
- NCERT Class 12 · Biology, Chapter 9 “we have learnt the lesson of transferring genes into plants and animals from bacteria and viruses which have known this for ages”
- US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH): Vaccine types (Internet Archive copy) ↗ “some vaccines use a harmless virus or bacterium as a vector, or carrier, to introduce genetic material into cells. Several such recombinant vector vaccines are approved to protect animals from infectious diseases, including rabies and distemper.”
- WHO: The Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine (what you need to know) ↗ “the WHO EUL COVID-19 vectored vaccines (AstraZeneca Vaxzevria/COVISHIELD or Janssen)”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·