London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

New research published in BMJ Global Health shows over half a million deaths associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could be prevented using vaccines.

The team, led by researchers from the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), set out to estimate the AMR burden that could be avoided using new and existing vaccines against 15 bacterial pathogens.

Resistance develops as pathogens evolve either naturally over time, or acquired by the misuse of antimicrobial drugs, which render these medicines ineffective and increase the risk of severe illness and death from common infections.  

Based on data from 2019, the team developed a mathematical model which predicted that 510,000 deaths and 28 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) associated with AMR could be avoided using vaccines, and in a scenario of the highest possible vaccine impact, the model estimated that a further 1.2 million deaths and 37 million DALYs associated with AMR could be avoided. 

Another key finding was that the AMR burden avertable by vaccination is highest for the Africa and South-East Asia regions, for lower respiratory infections, tuberculosis, and bloodstream infections by infectious syndromes, and for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Streptococcus pneumoniae by pathogen.  

Vaccines, when used alongside other preventive measures, can significantly reduce AMR transmission through several routes. These include preventing the emergence and transmission of drug-resistant and drug-sensitive infections; reducing the need to use, misuse and overuse antimicrobials; and by reducing resistant infections in unvaccinated populations through herd immunity.

Mateusz Hasso-Agopsowicz, Technical Officer in the Immunization Department at WHO, said: “This study contributes to the WHO-led framework, using mathematical modelling to demonstrate the value of vaccines in reducing the effects of antimicrobial resistance.”

Kaja Abbas, Associate Professor at LSHTM, said: “Our predictions support the need to scale-up existing vaccine coverage in regions with the highest AMR burden, and to prioritise the research and development of new vaccines with a high potential for lowering the AMR burden.”

Chaelin Kim, Research Assistant at IVI (at the time of this study), added: “We recommend decision-makers to use this data in vaccine assessments to inform the investment, development, introduction, and sustainability of new and future vaccines with equitable access.”

Read the full publication here.