Anthrax vaccine works the same way as tetanus toxoid, rabies vaccine, and other vaccines that save millions of lives.

Vaccines have many similar properties.

Like other vaccines, anthrax vaccine causes the body to make protective antibodies.

Antibodies protect you by circulating in the blood stream and hunting down
anthrax germs.


These antibodies act like fire-and-forget missiles. They stay on patrol
to attack anthrax germs long after vaccination.

Vaccines prepare the body, like shadow boxing prepares a boxer, or rehearsal helps an actor.


The vaccine helps your body train to defend itself, by making antibodies ahead of time.


Similarly, exercises help prepare military units for combat.

To make these antibodies, vaccines have to contain parts of the bacteria (germ).


These vaccine parts are proteins from the anthrax bacteria. These proteins are called “protective antigen” or PA.


There are thousands of families (or strains) of anthrax bacteria. But these strains don’t differ very much, and the protective antigen protein is the same in every strain.


Anthrax vaccine makes your body produce antibodies to the protective antigen, so the bacteria can’t produce the anthrax disease.


Anthrax vaccine protects against the protein common to all harmful strains of anthrax bacteria.