The role of bacterial vaccines in the fight against antimicrobial resistance: an analysis of the preclinical and clinical development pipeline

Vaccines can be highly effective tools in combating antimicrobial resistance as they reduce infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic consumption associated with disease. This Review looks at vaccine candidates that are in development against pathogens on the 2017 WHO bacterial priority pathogen list, in addition to Clostridioides difficile and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. There were 94 active preclinical vaccine candidates and 61 active development vaccine candidates.

Vaccines are already important tools in reducing antimicrobial resistance and future development will provide further opportunities to optimise the use of vaccines against resistance.