Vaccines as Potential Frontliners Against Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR): A Focused Review

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a formidable global threat, undermining the efficacy of potent antibiotics and complicating the treatment of infectious diseases, which has attracted the attention of scientific communities to revisit vaccines as a potential candidate against these superbugs. Although vaccines dedicated to bacterial infections are substantially reducing antibiotic use and decreasing annual healthcare expenditures for drug-resistant infections. Therefore, the vaccine can potentially prevent bacterial infections, which ultimately reduces the use of antibiotics and limits the opportunity for the development of resistance. Specific vaccines are being developed specifically to target drug-resistant bacteria like multidrug-resistant bacteria of M. tuberculosis, E. coli, and S. aureus, which not only prevent their spread but also reduce the burden on healthcare systems. However, despite their immense potential, disparate challenges hamper the broader application of vaccines in combating AMR. The most prominent challenge is the restricted accessibility of vaccines for high-priority drug-resistant ESKAPE pathogens. The development of vaccines against these organisms has proven a complicated process due to antigenic variability, immune evasion mechanisms, and a lack of reliable animal models. Furthermore, economic hindrances and logistical barriers, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), pose serious hurdles to vaccine access and uptake. In the present review, crucial aspects of the vaccines have been emphasized that are directly correlated with the globalized AMR issues. Therefore, deployment of vaccine development and research against AMR is considered the cornerstone in AMR prevention, promoting balanced use of antibiotics, and ultimately mitigating the dissemination of resistant pathogens.