Prevention is the way to wellness. That's why vaccines are so important. Not only can they prevent temporary discomfort and even permanent disability, they can eradicate disease and even prevent death.

Since Edward Jenner began inoculating against smallpox more than 200 years ago, vaccines have literally saved millions of lives. They have completely eliminated smallpox as a naturally occurring disease threat. They have made once common diseases like measles and polio uncommon—or nearly nonexistent—in the countries where they are widely used. Vaccines can even prevent some types of cancer. And U.S. scientists are continuing to develop new vaccines against many other well-established diseases and emerging threats.

The United States remains committed to developing new vaccines and spreading their benefits to those in need.

Vaccines developed by U.S. researchers against one bacterium (Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib) have virtually eliminated a leading cause of severe pneumonia, meningitis, and long-term disabilities among children in developed countries. Studies have confirmed their safety and effectiveness in developed countries. Broadening the distribution of the Hib vaccines promises to reduce the global burden of infections from that bacterium, which causes 2 to 3 million cases of serious disease and more than 380,000 deaths worldwide each year.

Since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative began in 1988, polio cases have dropped by more than 99 percent from an estimated 350,000 in 1988 to fewer than 2,000 cases in 2006. More than 5 million cases of polio paralysis and more than 250,000 polio-related deaths have been prevented due to the eradication initiative. Only four countries—Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India—remain polio-endemic, and the United States remains a partner in the ongoing effort to end this crippling disease in these last remaining nations.

We're also concerned about the emergence of diseases. That's why the Department of Health and Human Services awarded more than $1 billion in contracts to develop cell-based technology for vaccines against both seasonal and pandemic influenza last year. The benefits are likely to go far beyond U.S. borders—not simply the new vaccines and the disease protection they will convey, but also the advanced techniques for creating them.

Viruses and bacteria are constantly mutating, adapting, and attacking. So it is not sufficient to build an effective vaccine to defeat one disease one time. Rather, it is critical to sustain an infrastructure that allows new vaccines to be developed and new cures to be found.

The infrastructure of adaptability is more than buildings or benches. It is freedom and accountability; competition and transparency. It is the intangible things on which innovation and invention thrive.

The United States leads the world in the discovery and development of new vaccines. I'm determined that we'll keep doing so: that we'll keep creating new vaccines and passing on their benefits to those in need.

Vaccines offer possibility and opportunity. That's why we'll keep working to expand their availability: to give people a hope, a promise, and a future.

Mike Leavitt

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services