Why vaccines?

Why do pertussis vaccines fail?

The first reason, and perhaps the most important one, is that our estimates of vaccine efficacy have been inflated because of case definition.3–11 At the time of the pediatric diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine efficacy trials in the early 1990s, it was hoped that a universal case definition could be developed so that the results of the various trials could be...

Human virus vaccines: why monkey cells?

Flu, Flu Vaccines, and Why We Need to Do Better

Influenza (or flu) is a huge global problem, one billion people—1/7th of the world’s population get infected with it each year. The virus does not only infect people it also infects many different animals including chickens and pigs and can have devastating effects on farms where these animals are raised. Our body has evolved ways (called the immune response) to kill the influenza virus if we a...

Trust in Vaccines: Why It Takes More than Good Faith

This Vaccines issue on "Confidence in Vaccines" provides sound evidence through multiple perspectives of life-saving impacts when vaccination programs are effectively implemented in a population. Yet there remain challenges to achieving this impact, including scientific, medical, manufacturing, policy-related and logistical issues. Additionally, socio-cultural, religious and political agendas c...

Editorial: Why Vaccines to HIV, HCV, and Malaria Have So Far Failed—Challenges to Developing Vaccines Against Immunoregulating Pathogens

Together with sanitation, vaccination is one of the most effective life-saving interventions available in the fight against infectious diseases. As you read this issue of Frontier in Microbiology, scientists around the globe are working toward developing vaccines against diverse infectious diseases, allergies, cancer and autoimmune diseases. We believe that every major disease will eventually h...