April 14 2020
We hear endless talk about vaccine development for newly encountered infection(s) promising “speedy” development of a “very powerful” vaccine. Indeed, the list of vaccines available is the United States is impressive. These include (complete list):
Adenovirus
Anthrax
Cholera
Diphtheria (7 types of vaccine)
Hepatitis A (2 types)
Hepatitis B (3 types)
Haemophilus influenzae type B (2 types)
Human Papilloma Virus
Seasonal influenza (2 types)
Japanese encephalitis
Measles (2 types)
Meningococcal (2 types)
Mumps (2 types)
Pertussis (5 types)
Pneumococcal (2 types)
Polio (4 types)
Rabies
Rotavirus (2 types)
Rubella (2 types)
Shingles (2 types)
Smallpox
Tetanus (7 types)
Tuberculosis (BCG - limited use in the USA)
Thyroid fever (2 types)
Varicella (2 types)
Yellow fever
Most notably, vaccines for many well known diseases are suspiciously absent from this list. There are (incomplete list):
Amoeba
Arbovirus
Botulism
Brucellosis
Campylobacter
C. difficile
Chlamydia
Cocci
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Cryptosporidium
Cyclosporiasis
Cytomegalovirus
Dengue
Ebola
Epstein-Barr virus
E.coli
Enteroviruses
Giardia
Gonococci
Hand, foot, and mouth disease
Hantavirus
Helicobacter Pylori
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis D
Hepatitis E
Herpes Simplex I and 2
HIV I and II
HTLV-IV
Lassa fever
Legionella
Leishmaniasis
Leprosy
Lyme
Malaria
MERS CoV
Norovirus
Parvovirus B19
Plague
Q fever
Respiratory Syncycial virus
Roseola
Salmonella
SARS-CoV-1
SARS-CoV-2
Scabies
Shigella
Staphylococci
St. Louis encephalitis
Streptococci
Syphilis
Trichinosis
Trichomona
Tularemia
West Nile Encephalitis
Zica
Other facts:
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributed > $10 billion to develop malaria, HIV, and a new tuberculosis vaccines over the last decade;
HIV pandemic is 40 years old, vaccine?
Approximately $1 billion a year spent on HIV vaccine development by the US government alone;
As of the latest surveillance by UNAIDS, it is estimated that there are 37.9 million people living with HIV globally as of the end of 2018. Of these, approximately 1.7 million were newly infected;
In 2018, UNAIDS reported an estimated 770,000 people died of HIV worldwide, the majority of whom were from sub-Saharan Africa. The United States accounted for around 16,000 of these deaths;
In 2018, there were estimated 228 million cases of malaria;
In 2018, approximately 405,000 people died of malaria;
In 2018 - there were 9.8 million cases of measles and 142,000 deaths;
Seasonal influenza vaccine efficacy is between 35-55%, e.g. a “coin toss”
SARS-CoV-1 and MERS coronavirus vaccines did not make it past clinical trials in 17 years;
2 billion people - 1/3 of the world population is infected with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis causes 2,000,000 deaths annually;
Norovirus is the leading cause of vomiting and diarrhea from acute gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines) among people of all ages in the United States. Each year, on average in the United States, norovirus:
causes 19 to 21 million cases of acute gastroenteritis
leads to 1.7 to 1.9 million outpatient visits and 400,000 emergency department visits, primarily in young children
contributes to about 56,000 to 71,000 hospitalizations and 570 to 800 deaths, mostly among young children and the elderly.
Norovirus is the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis among U.S. children less than 5 years of age who seek medical care. Norovirus is responsible for nearly 1 million pediatric medical care visits annually.