What it means
واکسن (vâksan) is the Persian word for a vaccine, a biological preparation that provides immunity to a disease. The word is borrowed from French vaccin, which Edward Jenner coined in the 1790s from Latin vacca (cow), because his first inoculation used cowpox material. Persian adopted the French form and the vowel shift from vaccin to vâksan followed the common Persian pattern for French medical borrowings. There is no native Persian equivalent in everyday use. The compound زدن واکسن (vâksan zadan, to give or receive a vaccine) is the standard verb combination. A closely related term is ایمنسازی (iman-sâzi, immunization), used more in public health documents than in street conversation.
How to use it
- واکسن آنفلوآنزا زدی؟ (vâksan-e ânfoluânzâ zadi?) “Did you get the flu vaccine?”
- بچهها باید واکسن بزنند (bachehâ bâyad vâksan bezanand) “Children need to be vaccinated”
- نوبت واکسن گرفتم (nobat-e vâksan gereftam) “I got a vaccination appointment”
- این واکسن دو دوز داره (in vâksan do doz dâre) “This vaccine has two doses”
Cultural note
Iran has had a national vaccination program since the 1960s, and childhood vaccines (واکسنهای دوران کودکی, vâksan-hâye dowrân-e kudaki) are provided free at government health centers (خانه بهداشت, khâne-ye behdâsht) across the country. During the COVID-19 pandemic the word واکسن entered daily conversation at every level of society and was the subject of significant debate about which foreign vaccines to import and whether to use the domestically produced Coviran Barkat. The verb combination واکسن زدن (vâksan zadan, literally to strike or inject a vaccine) reflects the same pattern as آمپول زدن and follows the broad Persian use of zadan for injection procedures.