1 Introduction The fields of vaccinology and adoptive cell transfer (ACT) converge in the shaping of the acquired cellular and humoral responses of the B- and T cells of the immune system toward desired antigens on pathogens or self-targets. However,…
1 Introduction In the last decades there has come into being, without either flourish of trumpets or serious controversy, a general current of belief in what I have come to call ‘immunological surveillance’. – One can therefore picture a form…
1 Introduction Infectious diseases continue to plague mankind and evolve to keep pace with the efforts to control them. Sir William Osler captured the ongoing fear of infectious pathogens when he said, “Humanity has but three great enemies: fever, famine,…
Public trust in vaccines and immunization programs is a dynamic and changing phenomenon. Seeming success in an immunization program can be disrupted by a confidence crisis more quickly than it can be rebuilt. Constant care and vigilance are needed to…
1 Introduction Vaccination is recognized as one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century, likely saving more lives in the last 50 years than any other health intervention. For continued success, however, high population vaccination coverage rates need…
1 Introduction India has the largest birth cohort in the world (27 million children) but lags other countries of similar gross national income per capita on immunization coverage ( Exhibit 25.1 ). A third of the world’s roughly 27 million unimmunized…
1 Introduction The decision for a national government to adopt a population-based health intervention such as vaccines is a complex process involving political, economic, operational/logistics, and governance issues. There are as many variations of decisions as there are the number…
In May 2012, the World Health Assembly approved the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) to achieve the Decade of Vaccines vision by delivering universal access to immunization. One of the ambitious goals set by the GVAP was to unleash vaccines’…
1 Introduction This chapter focuses on ethical concerns early in the life cycle of vaccines, namely trials designed to test safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of vaccines in human participants. Vaccine trials involve many ethical complexities that stem from several features.…
1 Introduction Influenza is a communicable acute respiratory disease and one of the major infectious disease threats to the human population. Influenza virus affects individuals of all ages, causes repeated infections throughout life, and is responsible for annual worldwide epidemics…