The introduction of new vaccines into developing countries

The development and introduction of new vaccines is a costly and time consuming process. Unfortunately, those most in need -individuals in developing countries- are the last to receive these powerful disease preventing products. From the time a vaccine is first licensed in a developed country to the time most of the poor ill developing countries have access to the vaccine can be 20-30 years. This delay is unacceptable. There is a great need to reduce this time span. This paper examines five ways of reducing the time span. Each of the five is essential and achieving success on all five will require a heightened level of international effort and coordination. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.