Vaccines against antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global clinical and economic threat due to the impact that it has on how potentially deadly infections can be treated. Without intervention, it is estimated that AMR will be responsible for 10 million deaths a year by 2050, with a cost of 100 trillion USD. Sustainable prevention strategies are urgently needed to control the spread of AMR in communities and healthcare settings. Vaccines play an important role, not only in protection against emerging drug-resistant pathogens, but also in reducing antibiotic consumption by preventing infections before antimicrobial intervention begins. This review provides an overview of several existing bacterial and viral vaccines that have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing this burden and discusses the importance of development of further vaccines to tackle AMR, with a particular focus on Clostridioides difficile and group B streptococcus, for which long-awaited vaccines may be on the horizon. This article is part of the Royal Society Science+ meeting issue 'Vaccines and antimicrobial resistance: from science to policy'.