What have vaccines done for us?

As the world awaits the imminent arrival of one — or several — COVID-19 vaccines, many people may wonder how important vaccines actually are to safeguarding public health. In this feature, we answer that question by looking at what vaccines have done for us throughout history. Researchers who have looked at trends of vaccine acceptance around the world have found that, overall, people’s trust in vaccine safety and effectiveness has been on the rise over the past few years. However, they have also expressed concern that the race for a COVID-19 vaccine may have triggered more hesitancy among certain groups. Speaking at this year’s WIRED Health:Tech conference, Prof. Heidi Larson, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, in the United Kingdom, noted that “Because of the hyper-uncertainty and the whole environment of trust and distrust around the COVID vaccine, there are groups that have gotten together to resist” upcoming vaccination. Many may...