Vaccine: Timeline of key events

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This included 6 member states that had policies for vaccinating adolescents. Of the 89 member states with historically high prevalences of chronic hepatitis B infection, 64 (72%) had adopted universal infant hepatitis B vaccination.2003-05-01T00:00:00+00002003-05-01T00:00:00+0000Robbins was an American paediatrician and virologist who made his name in 1941 by helping to develop a tissue culture technique to grow the polio virus, one of the most feared diseases at the time. The method involved the growth of the virus using a mixture of human embryonic skin and muscle tissue. It provided an important step towards the development of a vaccine against polio. The tissue culture technique also helped scientists discover new respiratory viruses and paved the way to being able to culture the measles virus to make a vaccine against it. Robbins shared the 1954 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work. 2003-08-04T00:00:00+0000Hilleman, an American microbiologist, is credited with having saved more children's lives than any other medical scientist in the 20th century. He pioneered eight out of the fourteen vaccines routinely recommended for children today. This included the vaccines for measles, mumps, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, chickenpox, meningitis, pneumonia and Haemophilus influenzae bacteria. Hilleman developed these vaccines as head of Merck & Co's virus and cell biology research department. 2005-04-11T00:00:00+0000The vaccine RotaTeq took 25 years to develop. It was developed by Stanley Plotkin, H Fred Clark and Paul Offit.2006-01-01T00:00:00+00002007-01-01T00:00:00+0000June Almeida was a major pioneer of electron microscopy which helped transform knowledge about virology. She is best known for taking the first electron micrograph of the rubella virus and a human coronavirus. Her work also helped uncover the structure of the hepatitis B virus which paved the way to developing a vaccine against hepatitis B. She also published some of the first high quality images of HIV. 2007-12-01T00:00:00+0000Published in 'Nature Medicine', the system deloys glycoprotein D fused with genes from target antigens to increase the immune response. The work was led by Hildegund C.J. Ertl.2008-01-31T00:00:00+00002011-01-01T00:00:00+0000Blumberg was an American physician and geneticist who won the Nobel Prize in 1976 for his discovery of a surface antigen for the hepatitis B virus. He found the antigen while conducting work on blood samples from different populations from around the world to understand genetic variations in susceptibility to disease. The antigen was first spotted testing a blood sample from a haemophiliac patient in New York against blood taken from a visiting Korean physician. Blumberg's discovery paved the way to the development of the first screen test for hepatitis B to prevent its spread in blood donations. His research also helped in the creation of the first vaccine against the disease, which to this day is the gold standard in the management of the disease.2011-04-05T00:00:00+0000A Polish-born virologist, Koprowski invented the world's first effective live polio vaccine while at Lederle Laboratories. He developed the vaccine by attenuating the virus in brain cells of a cotton rat. In January 1948 he injected the vaccine into himself. The vaccine had the advantage that it directly entered the intestinal tract and provided long-lasting immunity. Within a decade the vaccine had been adopted on four continents. Koprowski went on to become the director of the Wistar Institute where in the 1960s he led efforts to improve the rabies vaccine. He subsequently became the first scientist, together with colleagues, to hold a patent for monoclonal antibodies. Born to Jewish parents, Koprowski was forced to flee Poland in 1939 after Germany invaded the country. 2013-04-11T00:00:00+0000Vaccine developed by David Weiner together with collaborators at Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., GeneOne Life Science, Inc., National Microbiology Laboratory at the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the University of Pennsylvania.2016-06-23T00:00:00+00002017-08-01T00:00:00+0000World Hepatitis Alliance,' Study shows universal vaccination has wiped out hepatitis B and associated liver cancer in Alaska's young people', MedicalXpress, August 10 2017. The study was carried out by Brian McMahon and colleagues at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) Hepatitis Program. The results was reported to the World Indigenous Peoples' Conference on Viral Hepatitis in Anchorage, Alaska. 2017-08-08T00:00:00+0000The vaccine was developed by Dynavax2017-11-01T00:00:00+0000N Pardi, MJ Hogan, FW Porter, D Weismann, 'mRNA vaccines — a new era in vaccinology', Nature Reviews: Drug Discovery, 17 (2018), 261-79.2018-01-12T00:00:00+00002018-07-20T00:00:00+0000Norbet Pardi and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania together with Raffael Nachbagauer's team at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The vaccine encoded four different proteins found on the flu virus. It was published in AW Freyn, JR da Silva, VC Rosado, 'A Multi-Targeting, Nucleoside-Modified mRNA Influenza Virus Vaccine Provides Broad Protection in Mice', Molecular Therapy. 2020-07-08T00:00:00+0000The vaccine was developed by BioNTech in partnership with Pfizer.2020-12-11T00:00:00+0000The vaccine was developed by Moderna. 2020-12-18T00:00:00+0000
Date Event People Places Sciences
May 2003WHO recorded that 151 (79%) of 192 member states had adopted universal childhood hepatitis B vaccination programmes  Vaccine
May 2003GAVI/VF reported that 48 (64%) of poor countries eligible for their support had received funding to introduce hepatitits B vaccine  Vaccines, Infectious diseases
4 Aug 2003Frederick Chapman Robbins diedRobbinsWestern Reserve UniversityVirology, Vaccines
11 Apr 2005Maurice Hilleman diedHillemanMerck & CoVaccines, Infectious diseases
2006Vaccine approved for preventing rotavirus, a major kiler of children Plotkin, Clark, OffitWistar InstituteVaccines, Virology, Infectious diseases
2007WHO reported that 71 (89%) of its 193 member states had initiated a hepatitis B vaccination programme  Vaccine
1 Dec 2007June Almeida diedAlmeidaHammersmith Postgraduate Medical SchoolVirology, Vaccines, Infectious diseases
31 Jan 2008New vaccine delivery system unveiled for preventing viral diseasesErtlWistar InstituteVaccines, Virology
Jan 2011DNA sequencing proves useful to documenting the rapid evolution of Streptococcus pneumococci in response to the application of vaccines Wellcome Trust Sanger InstituteDNA Sequencing, Vaccines
5 Apr 2011Baruch S. Blumberg diedblumbergFox Chase Cancer Center, University of PennsylvaniaVaccines
11 Apr 2013Hilary Koprowski diedKoprowskiLederle Laboratories, Wistar InstituteVaccines, Monoclonal antibodies, Infectious diseases
23 Jun 2016FDA approved first clinical trial for zika virus vaccineWeinerWistar Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, GeneOne Life Science, Public Health Agency of CanadaVaccines, Virology, Infectious diseases
Aug 2017UK, one of the last countries in Europe, rolled out hepatitis B vaccination programme for infants  Vaccine
8 Aug 2017Universal hepatitis B vaccination introduced for all newborns in 1980s reported to have wiped out hepatitis B infection and associated liver cancer cases in Alaskan indigenous population  Vaccine
Nov 2017FDA approved a two-dose hepatitis B vaccine for use in adults aged 18 and over DynavaxVaccines, Infectious diseases
12 Jan 2018mRNA flagged up as promising new vaccine technology for combating infectious diseasesPardi, Michael Hogan, Frederick Porter, Drew WeismannUniversity of PennsylvaniamRNA, vaccines
20 Jul 2018Pfizer entered worldwide collaboration and license agreement with BioNTech to develop mRNA-based influenza vaccines Pfizer, BioNTechmRNA, vaccines
8 Jul 2020Mice experiments show mRNA promising means to create universal flu vaccinePardi, Freyn, da Silva, Rosado, Bliss, Pine, Mui, Tam, Madded, de Souza Ferreira, Drew Weissman, Krammer, Coughlan, Palese, NachbagauerUniversity of Pennsylvania, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaimRNA, vaccines
11 Dec 2020FDA approved first mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 for emergency use BioNTech, PfizermRNA, vaccines
18 Dec 2020FDA approved second mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 ModernamRNA, vaccines

May 2003

WHO recorded that 151 (79%) of 192 member states had adopted universal childhood hepatitis B vaccination programmes

May 2003

GAVI/VF reported that 48 (64%) of poor countries eligible for their support had received funding to introduce hepatitits B vaccine

4 Aug 2003

Frederick Chapman Robbins died

11 Apr 2005

Maurice Hilleman died

2006

Vaccine approved for preventing rotavirus, a major kiler of children

2007

WHO reported that 71 (89%) of its 193 member states had initiated a hepatitis B vaccination programme

1 Dec 2007

June Almeida died

31 Jan 2008

New vaccine delivery system unveiled for preventing viral diseases

Jan 2011

DNA sequencing proves useful to documenting the rapid evolution of Streptococcus pneumococci in response to the application of vaccines

5 Apr 2011

Baruch S. Blumberg died

11 Apr 2013

Hilary Koprowski died

23 Jun 2016

FDA approved first clinical trial for zika virus vaccine

Aug 2017

UK, one of the last countries in Europe, rolled out hepatitis B vaccination programme for infants

8 Aug 2017

Universal hepatitis B vaccination introduced for all newborns in 1980s reported to have wiped out hepatitis B infection and associated liver cancer cases in Alaskan indigenous population

Nov 2017

FDA approved a two-dose hepatitis B vaccine for use in adults aged 18 and over

12 Jan 2018

mRNA flagged up as promising new vaccine technology for combating infectious diseases

20 Jul 2018

Pfizer entered worldwide collaboration and license agreement with BioNTech to develop mRNA-based influenza vaccines

8 Jul 2020

Mice experiments show mRNA promising means to create universal flu vaccine

11 Dec 2020

FDA approved first mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 for emergency use

18 Dec 2020

FDA approved second mRNA vaccine for COVID-19

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