[History of vaccination: from empiricism towards recombinant vaccines].

PURPOSE: Two hundreds years after the discovery of the smallpox vaccine, immunization remains one of the most powerful tools of preventive medicine.

CURRENT KNOWLEDGE AND KEY POINTS: Immunization was born with Jenner, then Pasteur and expanded during the 19th and 20th century. It started with the empirical observation of cross-immunity between two diseases, cowpox and smallpox. It became a real science, with pathogen isolation, culture and attenuation or inactivation, to prepare a vaccine. Together with clinical and biological efficacy studies and adverse events assessments, it constructed the concept of "vaccinology". Protein conjugation of polyosidic vaccines has made possible early immunisation of infants. Nowadays, recombinant, reassortant, or virus-like particles technologies open the road for new vaccines.

FUTURE PROSPECTS: Ongoing research opens the way for the development of new vaccines that will help to control transmittable diseases for which we are lacking antimicrobial agents.