The miracle of vaccination

Abstract

Among all medical procedures, vaccination ranks at the forefront in lives saved and disabling illnesses prevented. Jenner's first experiments with vaccination, 200 years ago, culminated in the eradication of smallpox at the conclusion of a ten–year World Health Organization programme begun in 1967. Two million lives were saved each year and tens of thousand of blindness cases. In 1974, the smallpox campaign was expanded to include six additional vaccines (poliomyelitis, measles, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and tuberculosis). By 1990, global vaccination coverage had risen from less than 5% to 80% poliomyelitis was eradicated from the Americas; and a global eradication campaign was launched. Prospects for more dramatic achievements are bright. Research and development in new vaccines is gaining momentum. More than 150 new vaccines are now in human testing and vaccines against such as malaria, dengue fever and AIDS can be foreseen. Challenges remain in assuring adequate research funds for diseases of the developing world and in supplying needed quantities of assured, high quality vaccines. However, the threat of new and emerging infections and the fact that vaccines are the front line of defense reinforce the need for further strengthening of vaccine research, development and production. * Commemorative bicentenary lecture delivered on 15 May 1996 in the Royal Society.