revaccination

noun

re·​vac·​ci·​na·​tion (ˌ)rē-ˌvak-sə-ˈnā-shən 

plural revaccinations

: the act of administering a vaccine again some period after an initial vaccination especially to strengthen or renew the immune response

The first vaccination is given after a cat is 16 weeks old. Thereafter, annual revaccination with a single dose is necessary for effective immunity.

—Cat Fancy

Revaccination produces protective antibody titers in only 18 to 25 percent of individuals who failed to respond to the initial immunization with hepatitis B vaccine.

—Scientific American Medicine Bulletin

revaccinate

(ˌ)rē-ˈvak-sə-ˌnāt 

transitive verb

revaccinated; revaccinating

Make sure all dogs are vaccinated, and revaccinated if the immunization is more than two years old.

—New England Farmer

Therefore, if a cat's rabies vaccination expires anytime before April 1, 2017, the pet must be revaccinated prior to a 2016 cat license tag being issued.

—NorthJersey.com

Examples of revaccination in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There is no fact better established in medical science than that persistent revaccination will practically exterminate smallpox. —Mark Fischetti, Scientific American, 16 Dec. 2021

There will be an annual revaccination. —Alexander Tin, CBS News, 16 Apr. 2021

In Prussia, where the law requires revaccination to be performed every seven years, death by small pox is of very rare occurrence. —Mark Fischetti, Scientific American, 2 Nov. 2021

At the time, Massachusetts was one of eleven states that allowed officials to enforce mandatory immunizations; a resurgent outbreak had led the local health board to order vaccination or revaccination of the city’s inhabitants. —Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1803, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

revaccination

noun

re·​vac·​ci·​na·​tion ˈrē-ˌvak-sə-ˈnā-shən 

: vaccination administered some period after an initial vaccination especially to strengthen or renew immunity

revaccinate

(ˈ)rē-ˈvak-sə-ˌnāt 

transitive verb

revaccinated; revaccinating