Vaccines-Pillars of Preventive Health

An immunological product used to confer active immunity to a person against a particular disease is called vaccination. The process of producing artificial immunity in a subject is called immunisation. The focus of this article is to shed light on the different types of vaccines available, their scheduling, cost and storage. Also emphasis is given on their ADRs. The vaccines currently used are killed vaccines, attenuated vaccine, toxoids, subunit vaccines, DNA vaccines and combined vaccines. Vaccine scheduling is crucial for the success of any immunisation programme. Many diseases like polio and small pox have been eradicated in India by immunisation programmes. India is self-sufficient in producing high quality vaccines. Lack of knowledge, fear of ADR, improper vaccine storage, high manufacturing cost are leading causes of failure of immunisation programmes especially in poor countries. Pharmacist can educate people on the need of vaccines and promote the immunisation programmes. With proper implementation of vaccination programmes all obstacles can be cleared and vaccine preventable deaths can be avoided. Pharmacist can play an important role in immunisation programmes by ensuring adequate storage conditions and handling of vaccines. The saying prevention is better than cure is true in the field of healthcare also. Vaccines can reduce the burden on healthcare system and can lead to a healthy and disease free future.