FOGSI – Adult Vaccination

Vaccines are the most cost effective medical intervention known to save lives. They are given to healthy individuals to generate humoral immunity in them and prevent them from infections diseases. Vaccination benefits directly to those who are successfully immunity in them and prevent them from infectious diseases. Vaccinations benefits directly to those who are successfully immunized, and indirectly to others by creation of herd immunity in the society. Vaccines by preventing some viral infections also prevent cancers casued by them. Samllpox was the first disease to be declared eradicated from the world by global vaccination campaign against it. Poliomyelitis is on the verge of eradication and some other diseases like AIDS, TB, Hepatitis B, Malaria are targeted to be significantly reduced by the end of this decade. This FOGSI book on Adult Vaccination edited by Dr Ritu Khanna and Dr Basab Mukherjee is an excellent academic exercise to share a very broad view of vaccines and immunization. This is an essential read for health care service providers and non experts as well. A chapter each describes individual vaccines, its dosage and schedule. The role vaccination during adolescence, pregnancy, menopause and in special situations is explained very well. The development of new vaccines and availability of vaccines in combination is not common knowledge. Neither is schedule of vaccination to be given before pregnancy and post pregnancy are very well known. I congratulate both the editors and learned authors of each chapter for their contribution to this unique literature. I urge all FOGSI members, health care service providers, medical students and general public at large to gain knowledge about vaccines by reading FOGSI book on Adult Vaccination to improve health of women and future generations.