Antitoxins are used to confer passive immunity and for treatment. Vaccination and Immunization Vaccination and vaccine derive from vaccinia , the virus once used as smallpox vaccine. Thus, vaccination originally meant inoculation with vaccinia virus to make a person immune to smallpox. Vaccination currently denotes the physical act of administering any vaccine or toxoid. Immunization is a more inclusive term denoting the process of inducing or providing immunity artificially by administering an immunobiologic.
Immunization can be active or passive.
Active immunization is the production of antibody or other immune responses through the administration of a vaccine or toxoid. Passive immunization means the provision of temporary immunity by the administration of preformed antibodies. Although persons often use vaccination and immunization interchangeably in reference to active immunization, the terms are not synonymous because the administration of an immunobiologic cannot be automatically equated with the development of adequate immunity. Manual for the surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases.