Use of Vaccine Trials to Estimate Burden of Disease (Report)
Journal of Health Population and Nutrition 2004, Sept, 22, 3
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- 2,99 €
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- 2,99 €
Description de l’éditeur
INTRODUCTION Vaccination has been used for the prevention of specific conditions in different parts of the world for centuries, but the 20th century saw the development of vaccination as a highly effective global public-health strategy (1). The proof that a vaccine is effective has traditionally been provided by a vaccine trial, using epidemiological methods that have been developed over the course of the 20th century. Towards the end of the century, there was a dramatic increase in the price of vaccines, largely because their development and production has been taken over by a small number of large pharmaceutical companies (2). Thus, the later years of the century saw the price of vaccine rise from a few cents to over US$ 50 per dose. This development has meant that even rich countries must now weigh carefully the costs against the benefits of vaccination. The benefits can be seen as having two components--the burden of the disease that is to be prevented and the effectiveness of the vaccine. These two factors together comprise the vaccine-preventable burden of disease.