what vaccines do for the world

[xchrom]

http://www.who.int/immunization_delivery/en/index.html

Vaccines - which protect against disease by inducing immunity - are widely and routinely administered around the world based on the common-sense principle that it is better to keep people from falling ill than to treat them once they are ill. Vaccination is considered to be one of the most cost-effective health interventions. Through vaccination one dreaded disease, Smallpox, was eradicated and poliomyelitis has been eliminated from most countries in the world. It is estimated that over 2.5 million deaths are averted through vaccination every year. Vaccination have an advantage in that they can be delivered with very high coverage even in the most underserved areas, thereby preventing disease, disability and death in these marginalized populations.

http://www.who.int/immunization_delivery/vaccines/en/index.html

Immunization, together with improvements in hygiene and sanitation, has revolutionized child health worldwide.

Since the launch of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in 1974, millions of deaths have been prevented every year by delivery of infant immunization through national immunization programmes.

This section describes the vaccines commonly used in national immunization programmes, as well as some that are used in special risk groups or populations.

As a general rule, vaccines for large-scale public health use should:

* Meet the quality requirements as defined in the current WHO policy statement on vaccine quality.
* Be safe and have a significant impact on the actual disease in all target populations.
* If intended for infants or young children, be easily adapted to the schedules and timing of the national childhood immunization service.
* Not interfere significantly with the immune response to other vaccines given simultaneously.
* Be formulated to meet common technical limitations, e.g. in terms of refrigeration and storage capacity.
* Be appropriately priced for different markets.


The above information can be found in the WHO vaccine position papers for each disease.
List of WHO vaccine position papers

Last updated 28 November 2008

[xchrom]

1. kick

[emilyg]

2. k/r

[xchrom]

3. thank you. nt

[beam me up scottie]

4. kick

[uppityperson]

5. k&r for today's "what vaccines do for the world"

[xchrom]

6. kick

[xchrom]

7. kick

[FloridaJudy]

8. K & R

I'm old enough to remember polio epidemics. What parents went through every summer hoping the illness would spare their community and their children must have been appalling. I was actually diagnosed - incorrectly - with polio as a child, and spent a few days on a polio ward. They don't exist anymore, thanks to doctors Salk and Sabin.

The anti-vaccine crowd have obviously never seen one. I still have nightmares about it.

[xchrom]

9. kick