Ad hoc vaccine

Consider a vaccine. The stuff must have a shelf life, must be mass produced and consistent lot to lot, no contaminants, and effective. All this is true also for food items like cereal and Spam.

But cooking at home, I can do as I like. My stuff can have no shelf life, be one of a kind and irreproducable, be contaminated with last nights meal and that stuff I thought was pepper, and if I don't like it, I will throw it out.

I propose that firebreak-type vaccines could be made according to the home cooking principle. Suppose there is a nasty cold going around. And here your wife brings it home. Probably unavoidable, for her and now for the rest of you. Need you meekly wait your turn?

The home vaccine constructer has the advantage of an excess of concentrated infectious material to work with, of the exact strain posing an immediate risk. Starting with this material (eg saliva or other secretions), treat with UV. This will crosslink DNA or RNA of the infectious agent so it cannot replicate. Proteins and so the antigenic structure of the agent remain intact - it still can infect, and maybe some can replicate a little. Given the immense starting amount it is oK to be sloppy.

Now use that homemade vaccine on all remaining healthy householders. Your immune systems will get a jump start with the UV attenuated stuff and when the real virus stumbles in it will be met by the pointy swords of the active immune system.

Down sides: home vaccine is ineffective and you catch the real thing. Home vaccine inadequately neutralized and you catch the real thing. You get to the project too late and are already infected as you make the vaccine. Teenager will not use grody homemade vaccine and catches the real thing. Homemade vaccine is mutant and much worse than original, or mutant and gives you supersoldier powers.