The looming danger of antibiotic resistance is well known and the pharmaceutical industry will have a key part to play in tackling this. The overuse and misuse of antibiotics can create healthier strains of resistant bacteria weakening the effect of the very medicines created to control them.
Antibiotics are an essential and highly effective treatment and will always be needed. But the priority is shifting to responsible usage, only using them as needed.
The focus today is the development of successful vaccination programs, to protect people against many preventable diseases before they become sick and require treatment.
Vaccines have always been an important tool despite the enormous costs and time that historically go into the development.
Polio, which has been all but eliminated around the world, is perhaps the most well-
known example of a vaccination success in human health.
Examples of the value of vaccination are manifest and all around us, we only have to look at the recent successful global role out of the Covid19 vaccine to see what impact they can have.
Vaccines work by providing immunity, enabling us to become resistant to the disease before we become infected. The benefits are that we will require less remedial treatment for that disease, if any, which re-enforces the positive benefits to the individual and for society (think of the additional physical, emotional and time costs).
