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The history and legacy of vaccines at GSK.
The importance of vaccination is clear – it has saved more lives and prevented more serious diseases than any advance in recent medical history[1]. Vaccines prevent up to three million deaths and 750,000 children are saved from disabilities every year[2].
GSK has played a vital part in this story, with a history of 60 years researching and developing vaccines, including the discovery of 11 world-first vaccines. Among our biggest achievements sit the introduction of our vaccine for polio in the 1950s and the first ever rubella vaccine in 1969.
In many parts of world, immunisation has been so effective in preventing some of the previously most-feared diseases that in a generation they have become almost completely unknown. For example, in 2014 the World Health Organisation certified the WHO Southeast Asia region, including India, as polio free[5]. We’re proud of our past and all that we have achieved, but we’ve still got many challenges left to tackle, especially in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Our vaccines are shipped to more than 90% of countries across the world and four out of five of our vaccines are distributed to low and middle income countries.
Every day, over 2 million GSK vaccines are delivered, amounting to roughly 1 billion doses of our vaccines being distributed every year.
Globally, we produce more than 30 licensed vaccines and in the UK we supply the government with vaccines for 10 out of 12 diseases currently vaccinated against in children[3].
Around 1,600 GSK scientists are working on developing new vaccines[4] – including the 16 candidate vaccines we have in the pipeline – aiming to provide people across the world with the best possible protection from a range of diseases.
References:
- http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vaccinations/Pages/vaccination-saves-lives.aspx (last accessed September 2014)
- ‘The Value of Vaccination’ – Jenifer Ehreth (last accessed September 2014)
- The complete routine immunisation schedule 2013/14 – Public Health England (last accessed September 2014)
- GSK Annual Report 2013 (last accessed September 2014)
- https://connect.gsk.com/sites/biologicals/News/Pages/India,-other-Asian-countries-declared-polio-free.aspx/News?RowLimit=false (last accessed September 2014)
