I was curious to see how the authors of the fifth edition of Vaccines—widely regarded as “the Bible” for vaccinologists—had managed to incorporate the major changes that have occurred since the previous edition in 2004. I am happy to conclude that the book remains the work of reference that every person working in the field of vaccines—and also those with an interest in infectious diseases—should have at hand.
The new edition covers vaccinology in five sections: general aspects of vaccination; licensed vaccines; vaccines in development and new vaccines strategies; vaccines of special groups; and public-health and regulatory issues. 13 extra chapters cover additional diseases, such as herpes zoster, Ebola haemorrhagic fever, and severe acute respiratory syndrome, and general subjects, such as alternative vaccine deliveries or therapeutic cancer vaccines. Existing chapters have been updated: they describe the pathogen, its pathogenesis, the diseases it causes, and the history of each vaccine development—information that is invaluable for vaccine developers who want to build on past experience.
Prominent experts have contributed new material to this fifth edition. The chapter on vaccine immunology has been clearly and thoroughly updated, recent data on human papillomavirus vaccine development have been incorporated (including results from the recently licensed vaccines and their ensuing public-health aspects), and the chapter on alternative delivery methods extensively describes the transdermal and respiratory administration of vaccines.
The book's presentation has been improved with well-selected pictures and figures. It also includes access to a companion website offering the contents of the book online—a useful tool considering its size.
Of course, the field of vaccinology is so broad and fast moving that such a work must have its limitations. Indeed, there is much focus on prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases, with aspects of therapeutic vaccination and non-infectious diseases only scarcely mentioned. Second, the text itself was already nearly a year old by the time it reached publication, because of the time needed to edit such a huge compilation. But these are minor complaints. Vaccines remains an outstanding and unique achievement and I congratulate the authors for this new edition.