Vaccinomics - The future of personalized vaccination?

Vaccination is one of the most effective methods for the prevention of infectious diseases. Selected types of vaccines are administered to the majority of the population, thereby supporting herd immunity against certain transmissible diseases. Importantly, the immune response to vaccines - regarding its intensity, complexity, and duration - varies among individuals. These differences are partly influenced by genetic factors, specifically the presence of selected genetic polymorphisms that may affect not only the effectiveness of the immune response but also the risk of adverse reactions. Vaccinomics is a research field focused on the study of genomic and molecular biological characteristics of the human organism with the aim of elucidating the causes of interindividual differences in immune responses following vaccination. Adversomics deals with adverse reactions after vaccination. Vaccinomics may help to identify individuals who could benefit from alternative vaccination schedules or the selection of specific vaccine types. However, the majority of associations reported to date still require independent validation.