A paradox of today’s era is that, from gene editing to space research to computing, the world is living through a golden age of science, but a dispiriting one in politics — which, notably in the US, can jeopardise scientific progress. Nowhere is that more true than with vaccines.
This year has been good for vaccine science. New immunisations have continued to be deployed against diseases that for years were tricky targets. Two major vaccines against chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus that can cause painful symptoms, have received international approvals. Two vaccines approved in the past four years against malaria — which still kills more than half a million mostly children a year — are being rolled out at record speed.
Meanwhile, mRNA technology, the breakthrough that powered two of the main Covid-19 vaccines, is being used in new ways. The UK and Switzerland this year became the latest countries to approve the first non-Covid mRNA vaccine, against RSV, which can be fatal for elderly people. Advances are being made in using mRNA to develop therapeutic vaccines to treat chronic infections such as hepatitis B. And “personalised” mRNA cancer-targeting vaccines are now in clinical trials.