WHO: Vaccines could help fight antimicrobial resistance, save lives

Vaccines against just 23 pathogens could reduce the number of antibiotics needed by 22% globally per year, the World Health Organization recently announced.

This month, the agency published a technical report that takes an in-depth look at vaccination’s “underrecognized” role in decreasing antimicrobial resistance, which occurs when pathogens, fungi, bacteria and viruses stop responding to antimicrobial medications.

Up to 5 million deaths globally in 2019 can be attributed to antimicrobial resistance, the agency writes. Current and new vaccines could cut that number, the report suggests, averting deaths and reducing antibiotic use while reducing hospital costs and productivity losses.

The report looked both at available vaccines and vaccines in development. An international panel of vaccine experts classified the vaccines by how feasible they are to develop and implement and estimated their effects on antimicrobial resistance.

Vaccines against pneumonia, typhoid and Haemophilus influenzae type B, which causes pneumonia and meningitis, are already in use. Expanding their use could avert more antimicrobial resistance, the authors write.

They estimate that upcoming vaccines against tuberculosis and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which can cause pneumonia and infections in wounds and the bloodstream, could avert more than 500,000 deaths related to antimicrobial resistance. Both vaccines are in development but not on the market.

Other pathogens considered in the report include the microbes behind norovirus, respiratory syncytial virus and gonorrhea.

“It is imperative that we not only accelerate the development of new vaccines but also maximize the use of existing ones to protect global health and safeguard future generations,” says Bruce Aylward, assistant director general of the WHO’s universal health coverage, life course division, in the report. “The time to act is now, leveraging every available tool to mitigate this looming crisis.”

The panel calls for policymakers to include vaccination among their plans for combating antimicrobial resistance for “maximum global impact.”