Viruses to rescue health: Vaccination

Abstract

Viruses have been used as tools to prevent viral infections themselves for more than two centuries with impressive success. After the empirical discoveries of the first vaccines, today the development of genetic engineering, molecular virology, reverse genetics, the manipulation of viral genomes, their high-throughput sequencing and their chemical synthesis, the mastery of cell culture and purification methods have greatly benefited the development of viral vaccines. Since smallpox and rabies, the history of vaccinology has followed in the footsteps of the history of virology. New mRNA or viral vector vaccines have emerged in recent years. They were developed and distributed to the population in record time in the face of the Covid pandemic. Viruses in the service of health have a bright future ahead of them, whether to prevent other pandemics, to treat cancer, or to finally control HIV and malaria.