Vaccines & Vaccination

Vaccines for Respiratory Infections

Population protection by vaccination against infections has been one of the major achievements of public health and is of considerable importance in controlling respiratory disease. Our mandate is to prevent, reduce or eliminate vaccine-preventable and infectious respiratory diseases; reduce the negative impact of emerging and re-emerging respiratory infections. Viral respiratory infections continue to cause significant morbidity and mortality in infants and young children as well as in at-risk adults and the elderly. Although many viral pathogens are capable of causing acute respiratory disease, vaccine development has to focus on a limited number of pathogens (i.e., agents that commonly cause serious lower respiratory disease). Inactivated and, more recently, live attenuated influenza virus vaccines are the mainstay of interpandemic influenza prevention, but vaccines are not available yet for other important viruses such as respiratory syncytial virus, metapneumovirus, the parainfluenza viruses, and avian influenza virus with pandemic potential. Reverse genetics systems that allow rational vaccine development are now widely used, and considerable progress has been made in preclinical and clinical development of novel respiratory virus vaccines.