Vaccination to Reduce Antimicrobial Resistance Burden-Data Gaps and Future Research

Area of Science:

• Global Health
• Infectious Diseases
• Vaccinology

Background:

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a critical global health threat, potentially reversing progress in infectious disease control.
• Urgent strategies are needed to prevent or slow the rise of AMR.
• Vaccines offer a promising avenue to directly and indirectly combat AMR.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss the challenges in evaluating the impact of vaccines on reducing AMR.
• To propose potential approaches for assessing vaccine impact within vaccine trials.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on vaccine impact on AMR.
• Discussion of methodological challenges including confounding and bias in study designs.
• Proposal of novel evaluation approaches nested in vaccine trials.

Main Results:

• Modeling studies suggest significant benefits of vaccination in reducing AMR burdens, mortality, and economic losses.
• Quantifying the real-world impact of vaccines is hindered by significant background confounding and potential biases in current study designs.
• The need for robust methodologies to accurately assess vaccine contributions to AMR reduction is highlighted.

Conclusions:

• Vaccines are a key strategy in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
• Accurate assessment of vaccine impact requires addressing methodological challenges in study design.
• Further research and innovative evaluation methods within vaccine trials are crucial to fully understand and leverage the role of vaccines in combating AMR.