You could argue that Blossom, a dairy cow in 1796 England, has saved more lives than any human ever has. She was helped to do that, in no small way, by Edward Jenner, an English physician, who used material from her cowpox lesions to show that exposure to a less severe virus could provide immunity against a more dangerous one—namely, smallpox. This groundbreaking discovery was the birth of modern vaccination, revolutionising global health.
Past successes
Smallpox's earliest known victim was Ramses V in 1157 BC Egypt. The disease continued to impact human populations for over 3,000 years. In the last hundred years of smallpox's existence, it killed half a billion people. Today, as on every day since the 1980s, it has killed zero.
Jenner's work was only the beginning. In the centuries since his discovery, vaccines have saved many lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that vaccines prevent 3.5–5 million deaths every year. Along with the eradication of smallpox, diseases like polio, measles, diphtheria and tetanus have been significantly reduced.
One impactful vaccine is the DTP vaccine, which protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough). Introduced in the 1940s, the DTP vaccine has played an important role in fighting these serious diseases. Before that, diphtheria and pertussis were major causes of childhood illness and death.
Challenges today
Funding and access
Despite their success, vaccines have had to overcome scientific, logistical and political barriers throughout history. And the lack of funding in global health today has only created more issues. Limited resources and money have stopped vaccines reaching all corners of the world, particularly low-income countries. Recent cuts to aid around the globe, including UK aid cuts, will only make this problem worse and will cost the lives of children. Not everyone involved in vaccine development has been as generous as Jonas Salk, who famously refused to patent the polio vaccine to make sure as many people could have it as possible.
Trust and misinformation
Misinformation, fear and distrust have led some to be reluctant to get the vaccines they need or to vaccinate their children, posing a threat to public health. This can lead to outbreaks of preventable diseases, reversing decades of progress. During the Covid pandemic, for example, some people felt frustrated by certain policy decisions.
Vaccines are backed by extensive clinical trials, real-world data and peer-reviewed research by scientists worldwide. Over more than two centuries, vaccines have prevented millions of deaths and cases of serious illness, from polio to measles to COVID-19.
We can have important conversations about pandemic preparedness, government communication and balancing public health with individual freedoms. But these policy discussions shouldn't cast doubt on the lifesaving power of vaccines themselves.
The science is clear: vaccines are one of our most effective tools for preventing serious disease and protecting both individual and community health.
Opportunities of the future
Protecting children with vaccinations is not just the right thing to do: it's vital for global health security. As we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, cross-border contamination highlights the importance of vaccines on a global scale. Diseases are not stopped at borders, and international travel can spread infection. Vaccination programmes will prevent outbreaks that could quickly become pandemics.
The approval of the world’s first malaria vaccine marks a turning point in the fight against diseases that have haunted communities for centuries. By September 2025, 23 countries in Africa had introduced malaria vaccines as part of routine childhood vaccinations. Mothers will no longer face the terror of watching their children succumb to a mosquito bite. This breakthrough is just the beginning. Revolutionary TB vaccines are moving through final trials, targeting a disease that continues to claim over a million lives each year.
For families everywhere, this wave of vaccine innovation gives hope for a future where fewer diseases threaten them.
What next?
Groundbreaking vaccines mean nothing if they can't reach the people who need them. Organisations like Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, play an important role in making sure vaccines get to those who need them most. In June 2025, the UK government committed £1.25 billion to support Gavi from 2026 to 2030, helping to protect up to 500 million children from diseases like meningitis, cholera and measles.
We’re proud to partner with Gavi to get lifesaving vaccines to tens of thousands of children in Sudan, who would otherwise go unprotected. Every jab means one more child safe from deadly disease, even in the hardest to reach places. While we will continue to work hard to secure support for organisations like Gavi so that work like this can continue, it isn’t easy. Funding is hard to secure, and misinformation continues to undermine the science that proves vaccines work.
Vaccines have a long history of saving lives and giving every child a fairer chance to grow up healthy and strong. They remain one of the most powerful tools we have to protect children and global public health.
Together, with global partners and supporters, we can make sure vaccines keep doing what they do best — saving lives and giving every child the future they deserve.
