Vaccination is one of the most effective and versatile ways to prevent infectious diseases. The development of modern technologies makes it possible to obtain vaccines with desired properties. The review presents data on different types of vaccines used for the prevention of infectious diseases of birds. The advantages and disadvantages of traditional attenuated and inactivated vaccines, as well as recombinant vaccines - vector, subunit, based on virus-like particles and DNA vaccines - are considered. Possibilities of bacterial, yeast, baculovirus and plant systems for the expression of heterologous genes for the production of recombinant vaccines are discussed.