A World Health Organization report has found that vaccines against 24 pathogens could reduce the global daily doses of antibiotics needed, supporting worldwide efforts to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines, making people sicker and increasing the risk of illness, death and the spread of infections that are difficult to treat. It is driven largely by the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials, particularly antibiotics.
The recently released report analyzed 44 vaccines targeting 24 pathogens – 19 bacteria, four viruses, and one parasite. It estimated that vaccines already in use against typhoid and pneumococcus pneumonia such as Haemophilus influenzae type B or HiB – a bacteria causing pneumonia and meningitis – could avert up to 106,000 deaths associated each year with AMR.
An additional 543,000 deaths associated with AMR could be averted annually if new vaccines for tuberculosis and Klebsiella pneumonia are developed and rolled out globally.
“Addressing antimicrobial resistance starts with preventing infections, and vaccines are among the most powerful tools for doing that,” WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
“Prevention is better than cure, and increasing access to existing vaccines and developing new ones for critical diseases, like tuberculosis, [are] critical to saving lives and turning the tide on AMR,” he added.
Each year, nearly 5 million deaths are associated with AMR globally, according to WHO estimates.
In the Philippines, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine recorded in 2019 the 15,700 deaths attributable to and 56,700 deaths associated with AMR.
The Department of Health discourages the public against self-medication and using antibiotics without consulting a doctor, also reminding those taking antibiotics to complete the prescribed course of treatment.
In addition, the pentavalent vaccines provided by the DOH to newborns for free under its National Immunization Program, offers protection from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, and HiB.
The connection between vaccination and AMR is basically common sense, but the WHO study confirms the additional benefit of vaccination, especially as the world grapples with the looming threat of AMR, which threatens to reverse the gains we have made through antibiotics. That is advice that would make sense to heed, and government and individuals must do better when it comes to vaccination, especially if we can kill two birds with one stone, where that stone is also the ounce of prevention that can be worth a pound of cure.*
