PATH pneumococcal vaccine project

Abstract

Streptococcus pneumoniae kills nearly 1 million children before their fifth birthdays each year, mostly in the developing world. Current pneumococcal vaccines provide effective, serotype-specific protection, yet no licensed vaccine today offers broad coverage against all of S. pneumoniae’s more than 90 serotypes. Although low-income countries are beginning to gain access to these lifesaving vaccines via assistance from global health partnerships, such vaccines are otherwise unaffordable for poorer nations due to the relative complexity and the high costs associated with their development and production. Over the long term, new vaccines are needed that can maximize protection in the developing world and that even the poorest countries can sustainably afford without assistance. To this end, PATH’s pneumococcal vaccine project is working with public- and private-sector partners to develop safe, affordable and effective vaccines against S. pneumoniae tailored to meet the needs of infants and children in the d...