Future vaccines and a global perspective

Advances in medical biotechnology mean that vaccines to prevent more than 75 infectious diseases are being or have been developed. Vaccination is unfortunately not reliant purely on biotechnology but also on politics and resources. Countries with the greatest demand for vaccines have the least ability to pay for or produce them. Health-care infrastructure and diagnostic facilities also hamper immunisation projects in developing countries. Charitable organisations are relied on heavily to support such projects but the challenge to ensure all infants are immunised against the most common infections of childhood is still enormous. Difficulties that present themselves now should not prevent us looking into future possibilities such as immunisation during pregnancy and targeting of children for immunisation against sexually transmitted diseases. Other avenues for research are in administration of vaccines. A move to mucosal immunisation rather than use of the syringe and needle would be positive both economically and from the point of view of risk of needle contamination. Plant science may also provide a new vehicle for vaccines by engineering plants such as the banana tree to be naturally bioencapsulated vaccines. Prospects for control and eradication of infectious disease in the next century are certainly good.