This vaccine, shown to protect mice and rabbits, was introduced into the British childhood vaccination programme in 1992. This followed its outstanding success in Finland, where, over a period of five years from 1986, the incidence of Hib meningitis fell to zero. Following the winter 1994 measles vaccination campaign in Britain, there were just 21 cases in the first few months of 1995 compared to an expected 200,000 cases without the campaign. All cases were in babies too young to be vaccinated or in families who objected to vaccination. We still face new diseases caused by viruses such as HIV and hantaviruses.
Rabies is still a serious problem for both people and animals in developing countries.
Of course public health measures and health education have a part to play. But the most effective means of reducing the deaths and suffering caused by these diseases would be vaccination. Animal research is vital in the development of such vaccines. Hundreds of millions of people suffer and die from parasitic diseases , few of which can be treated or cured simply and cheaply, if at all. In theory public health measures could of course reduce the devastating effects of these diseases, but the investment required would be colossal.