Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Delhi-NCR, India.
Semin Immunol. 2020 Aug;50:101423. doi: 10.1016/j.smim.2020.101423. Epub 2020 Nov 26.
Efforts to produce vaccines against SARS and MERS were prematurely halted since their scope was perceived to be geographically restricted and they were subsequently categorized as neglected diseases. However, when a similar virus spread globally triggering the COVID-19 pandemic, we were harshly reminded that several other neglected diseases might also be waiting for the perfect opportunity to become mainstream. As climate change drives urbanization, natural selection of pathogens and their intermediate vectors and reservoirs, the risk of neglected diseases emerging within a larger susceptible pool becomes an even greater threat. Availability of a vaccine for COVID-19 is widely considered the only way to end this pandemic. Similarly, vaccines are also seen as the best tools available to control the spread of neglected (sometimes referred to as emerging or re-emerging) diseases, until the water, hygiene and sanitation infrastructure is improved in areas of their prevalence. Vaccine production is usually cost and labour intensive and thus minimal funding is directed towards controlling and eliminating neglected diseases (NDs). A customised but sustainable approach is needed to develop and deploy vaccines against NDs. While safety, efficacy and public trust are the three main success pillars for most vaccines, affordability is vital when formulating vaccines for neglected diseases.
针对 SARS 和 MERS 的疫苗研发工作因被认为具有地域局限性而被过早终止，因此它们被归类为被忽视的疾病。然而，当类似的病毒在全球范围内传播，引发了 COVID-19 大流行时，我们被强烈提醒，其他几种被忽视的疾病也可能在等待合适的时机成为主流。随着气候变化推动城市化，病原体及其中间载体和宿主的自然选择，在更大的易感人群中出现被忽视的疾病的风险成为更大的威胁。COVID-19 疫苗的可及性被广泛认为是结束这一大流行的唯一途径。同样，疫苗也被视为控制被忽视（有时称为新发或再发）疾病传播的最佳工具，直到其流行地区的水、卫生和环境卫生基础设施得到改善。疫苗生产通常需要大量的资金和劳动力，因此用于控制和消除被忽视疾病（NDs）的资金很少。需要一种定制但可持续的方法来开发和部署针对 NDs 的疫苗。虽然安全性、有效性和公众信任是大多数疫苗的三个主要成功支柱，但对于被忽视疾病的疫苗来说，可负担性至关重要。
