Table 1.
Characteristics of selected diseases and their vaccines by date of discovery and estimates of vaccine efficacy
| Vaccine | Vaccine type (year available) | Mortality among unvaccinated | Vaccine efficacy | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smallpox | Live attenuated (1798) | 30% | 95% | [101, 102] |
| Rabies | Live attenuated (1882), killed (1980) | 100% | 100% (with post-exposure prophylaxis) | [102] |
| Cholera | Killed whole cell (1884), recombinant toxin B (1993), oral (2016) |
50–60% (historic) 3.3% (modern) |
53–86% (Cochrane injected vaccine: 48%) (Cochrane oral vaccine: 50–60%) |
[102–104] |
| Typhoid | Killed whole cell (1896), live oral (1989), polysaccharide (1994), conjugate (2008) |
10–20% (historic) < 1% (modern) |
51–88% (killed whole cell) 62–96% (live oral; Cochrane: 50%) 55–72% (polysaccharide; Cochrane: 55–69%) 100% (conjugate; Cochrane: 50–96%) |
[102, 105] |
| Plague | Killed whole cell (1897) |
100% (untreated pneumonic form) 20–40% (sepsis) 6.7% (recent estimate) |
60–100% (animal studies) | [102] |
| Diphtheria toxoid | Protein (1923) | 6% | 70–99% | [102] |
| Pertussis | Killed whole cell (1926), acellular (1996) | 1% (infants) |
64–90% (whole cell) 83–95% (infants pertussis) 90–95% (maternal immunization) |
[58, 106] |
| Tetanus toxoid | Protein (1926) |
25–100% (generalized tetanus) 10–20% (modern critical care unit) |
70–100% | [102] |
| Tuberculosis | Live attenuated (1927) | 23% |
20% (infection) 0–80% (pulmonary) 86% (meningitis and miliary disease) |
[102, 107] |
| Yellow fever | Live attenuated (1935) | 47% (severe cases) | 100%a | [34] |
| Influenza | Killed whole organism (1936), live attenuated (2003) | Up to 60% (pandemic) | 8–91% (Cochrane: 59%) | [81, 108] |
| Tick-borne encephalitis | Killed whole organism (1937, 1981) | Up to 35% (far eastern type) | 99% | [102] |
| Polio | Inactivated (1955), live attenuated oral (1963) | 0–57% |
80–96% (inactivated, paralytic polio) 90% (oral) |
[102] |
| Measles | Live attenuated (1963) | 2–15% (low-, middle-income countries) | 90–98% | [66, 80, 109] |
| Mumps | Live-attenuated (1967) | < 0.1% | 85% | [110] |
| Meningococcus | Polysaccharide (1974), conjugate (1999, group C; 2006, group ACWY), recombinant (2014, group B) |
70–85% (historic) 10–15% (antibiotic era) 40% (severe cases) |
61–97% (group C) 61–85% (group ACWY) 82.9% (group B) |
[102] |
| Pneumococcus | Polysaccharide (1977), conjugate (2000) | 11–30% (invasive diseases) | 77–100% (invasive diseases) | [19, 111, 112] |
| H. influenza type b | Polysaccharide (1985), conjugate (1990) | 40–90% (historic) |
55–92% (polysaccharide) 80–100% (conjugate) |
[15, 102] |
| Chickenpox | Live attenuated (1995) | < 0.1% | 77–100% | [102] |
| Shingles | Live attenuated (2006), recombinant (2017) | < 0.1% |
51–61% (live-attenuated) 89–97% (recombinant) |
[62, 63, 102] |
| Human papillomavirus | Recombinant (2006) | 3–66% (cervical cancer) | 43–100% (cancer or precursor lesions) | [102, 113, 114] |
| Dengue | Recombinant (2016) | 0.1–5% | 30–60% | [102] |
| Ebola | Recombinant (2017) | 36–90% | 100%a (rVSV-ZEBOV) | [52, 102] |
aLimited data available