Are Vaccines Necessary?

 

Category: Publication

Author: Research

Description:

Are vaccines necessary?

Vaccines are one of the great advances in medicine and public health. They can prevent disease, disability, complications and death. They are one of the most cost-effective interventions we have: the polio vaccine, for example, with the current schedule protects for life.

Vaccines are necessary to control infectious diseases, and the number of vaccines and types of diseases that can be addressed is increasing. They have an individual protection component (I protect myself) and a collective protection component (I help improve the protection of others).

Thanks to vaccines, a disease such as smallpox has been eradicated from the earth and polio is close to being eliminated, for example. Currently, vaccines against COVID-19 are allowing us to get closer to functional control of this pandemic.