C1 Vaccines

Abstract

Vaccines are the most commonly administered immunotherapeutics. Supported by great improvements in sanitation facilities such as safe drinking water, vaccination was the most effective measure to control a diversity of life-threatening infectious diseases in the 20th century. The most impressive success of vaccination was the global eradication of smallpox in the 1970s. Moreover, the incidence of many other infectious diseases, such as diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, and rubella, has been drastically reduced thanks to extensive vaccination programmes.