Whereas the paradigm of vaccine is to provide protection of the vaccinee against the targeted disease (the specific effect of vaccine), many other effects may emanate from vaccination. These include: populational protection acquired through induction of herd immunity; individual protection of nonvaccinated persons acquired through third-party strategies such as maternal, toddler and caregiver immunisation; cross-protective effects against closely related pathogen; downstream effects by indirectly protecting against diseases that would have been predisposed by the prevented infection; adverse effects, that may also indirectly inform on vaccine responses or on the vaccinee’s underlying immunity; and non-specific effects. The study of non-specific effects of vaccines is a research topic of growing importance in vaccinology. Non-specific effects of vaccines are proposed to explain observations that certain vaccines can provide “unplanned” benefits against unrelated infections, allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases, and malignancies, through the induction of broader changes to immune cells, and therefore have an impact beyond the protection against the specific pathogens for which the vaccines were designed. In this Privat Docent thesis I have tried to illustrate these different facets of vaccination with some of the papers I have published in the past three years. After a general introduction setting up the context, the publications are introduced sequentially, followed by a general discussion giving future perspectives.