Some Problems of Vaccination Campaigns in Developing Countries

Abstract

Vaccination offers the most cost-effective approach to prevent and control infectious diseases in the history of mankind.1 The English physician Edward Jenner introduced smallpox vaccine in 1798. It is the first successful vaccine to be developed. Since then a series of vaccines have been developed and come into use; for example, the influenza vaccine, the hepatitis B vaccine, and the polio vaccine. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that licensed vaccines are currently available to successfully combat against twenty-five infections.2

Recently the potential epidemics of two infectious diseases have stepped into the spotlight: diphtheria resurgence in Denmark3 and swine flu (H1N1) outbreak in Ukraine.4 Danish authorities announced in this January that unvaccinated refugees have brought deadly diphtheria into the country after 20-year absence. For other European countries, it was reported that asylum seeker have also been found to carry tuberculosis and malaria. Flu activity most commonly peaks in the northern hemisphere between December and February. In Ukraine, the H1N1 influenza virus has killed more than 50 people in this January so far, and moreover, the
infection cases are growing, and many young people have fallen ill. The virus is approaching, or might have reached, epidemic levels in parts of the country. Swine flu (H1N1) has caused deaths in Russia and other former Soviet republics as well such as Armenia and Kazakhstan.