American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Practice Exam

The vaccine being discussed is the influenza vaccine, which is designed to protect individuals from the influenza virus. The correct response emphasizes that the influenza vaccine is inactivated, meaning that it contains viruses that have been killed or inactivated so they cannot cause disease.

This is important for the patient to understand, particularly because they have diabetes, which may affect their immune response and overall health. Knowing that the inactivated influenza vaccine cannot cause influenza allows the patient to feel more at ease with the safety of the vaccine.

Inactivated vaccines, such as the standard injectable influenza vaccine, stimulate an immune response without the risk of active infection. This is essential for individuals who are at higher risk for complications from influenza due to underlying health conditions like diabetes.

The other options refer to misconceptions about the nature of the vaccine. A polysaccharide vaccine generally refers to specific types of vaccines such as those for pneumococcal disease, which does not pertain to influenza. Live attenuated vaccines, although they do exist for influenza in the nasal spray form, are not part of the standard parenteral vaccination, hence they can indeed cause mild symptoms but do not apply in this context.