Disclosed herein are immunogenic compositions comprising a multilayer filmcomprising two or more layers of polyelectrolytes, wherein adjacent layerscomprise oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. A first layer polyelectrolytecomprises an antigenic polypeptide comprising one or more surface adsorptionregions covalently linked to one or more antigenic determinant regions,wherein the antigenic polypeptide and the one or more surface adsorptionregions have the same polarity. The immunogenic compositions may be employedin methods of eliciting an immune response in a vertebrate organism.