Publication: Vaccine requirements and priorities for developing countries
Issued Date
1986-12-01
Resource Type
ISSN
01252208
Other identifier(s)
2-s2.0-0022838974
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Mahidol University
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SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand. Vol.69, No.9 (1986), 505-510
Suggested Citation
P. Thongcharoen Vaccine requirements and priorities for developing countries. Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand. Vol.69, No.9 (1986), 505-510. Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/9781
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Title
Vaccine requirements and priorities for developing countries
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Abstract
The situation of viral vaccines used in Asian countries is reviewed, focusing on the following vaccines: smallpox, rabies, polio, measles, rubella, mumps, influenza, Japanese encephalitis, hepatitis B, varicella, dengue, and rotavirus. Vaccinations are among the most important strategies to combat communicable diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. Active immunizations are more preferable in most instances than passive ones. It has taken almost 2 centuries to eradicate the highly contagious infection of smallpox from the world. In 1979 the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the global eradication of smallpox. Smallpox vaccination was 1st practiced in 1840 by Dr. Dan Beach Bradley, with the last 2 cases of smallpox reported in Thailand in 1962. Despite the achievement for many years of more ideal rabies vaccine, Semple vaccine continues to be used in developing countries. Attempts should be intensified to produce newer tissue culture vaccines in developing countries themselves and to eradicate vectors. Instances of poliomyelitis were reported in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand as late as 1983-84, but only a few sporadic cases have occurred in Malaysia since 1980. This mixed record results from polio vaccine having been incorporated into national Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) programs in many countries. Measles remains 1 of the most common viral infections in children in most developing nations, but morbidity and mortality rates are not accurately obtainable in these countries. Rubella outbreaks have been reported from many countries in Southeast Asia with congenital rubella syndromes due to maternal rubella on the increase in many countries, including Thailand. Children who receive the mumps vaccination are those receiving the combined MMR vaccines. Monovalent mumps vaccine is not obtainable in developing countries. Influenza vaccine is impracticable in most developing countries. Japanese encephalitis vaccine has been used in Japan since 1954. Because of the high cost of Hepatitis B vaccine, mass immunization cannot be practiced in any developing country. Current data suggest that OKA strain of varicella vaccine will be a useful vaccine to protect against chickenpox in immunocompromised children as well as normal children living in some settings. More years are needed to determine the feasibility of dengue immunization. At present, only rotaviruses are the enteric viral agents causing human diarrhea for which vaccination is indicated and feasible. Requirements for vaccines used in developing countries are outlined.