Top 10 Best Vaccine Breakthroughs in History

Salk's injected inactivated virus vaccine and Sabin's oral live-attenuated version together drove polio from a terrifying global scourge to near-eradication. At its peak, polio paralyzed over 350,000 children annually; by 2025, wild poliovirus cases numbered fewer than a dozen worldwide.

Developed in under a year based on decades of work by Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines demonstrated 95% efficacy and were administered to billions of people, proving a revolutionary new vaccine platform that can be rapidly adapted to emerging threats.

Pasteur's bold decision to treat nine-year-old Joseph Meister with an experimental attenuated rabies virus after a dog bite saved the boy's life and proved that vaccination could work even after exposure, establishing the principle of post-exposure prophylaxis used worldwide today.

Maurice Hilleman, arguably the most prolific vaccine developer in history, combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines into a single shot. The MMR vaccine has prevented an estimated 21 million deaths since 2000 alone and remains the backbone of global childhood immunization programs.

Developed at the University of Queensland in Australia, the Gardasil vaccine against human papillomavirus was the first vaccine designed to prevent cancer. With over 90% efficacy against cervical cancer-causing HPV strains, Australia is on track to become the first country to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem.

Developed at the Pasteur Institute in Lille, France from an attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis, BCG remains the most widely used vaccine in history with over 4 billion doses administered. Despite variable efficacy against adult pulmonary TB, it prevents severe childhood tuberculosis and remains essential in endemic regions.

South African-born virologist Max Theiler developed the 17D live attenuated vaccine at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, earning the 1951 Nobel Prize. A single dose provides lifelong immunity, and the vaccine has been critical in controlling outbreaks across Africa and South America for nearly 90 years.

After 30 years of development, Mosquirix became the first malaria vaccine recommended by the WHO for children in sub-Saharan Africa. While its 30% efficacy is modest, it prevents roughly 40,000 deaths annually when combined with other interventions — a milestone for a parasite that has killed billions throughout human history.

Australian virologist Ruth Bishop identified rotavirus as the leading cause of childhood diarrhea in 1973 at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital. The subsequent vaccines developed by teams in the US and UK have prevented an estimated 140,000 child deaths annually since their global rollout began in 2006.

Salk's injected inactivated virus vaccine and Sabin's oral live-attenuated version together drove polio from a terrifying global scourge to near-eradication. At its peak, polio paralyzed over 350,000 children annually; by 2025, wild poliovirus cases numbered fewer than a dozen worldwide.

Developed in under a year based on decades of work by Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines demonstrated 95% efficacy and were administered to billions of people, proving a revolutionary new vaccine platform that can be rapidly adapted to emerging threats.

Pasteur's bold decision to treat nine-year-old Joseph Meister with an experimental attenuated rabies virus after a dog bite saved the boy's life and proved that vaccination could work even after exposure, establishing the principle of post-exposure prophylaxis used worldwide today.

Maurice Hilleman, arguably the most prolific vaccine developer in history, combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines into a single shot. The MMR vaccine has prevented an estimated 21 million deaths since 2000 alone and remains the backbone of global childhood immunization programs.

Developed at the University of Queensland in Australia, the Gardasil vaccine against human papillomavirus was the first vaccine designed to prevent cancer. With over 90% efficacy against cervical cancer-causing HPV strains, Australia is on track to become the first country to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem.

Developed at the Pasteur Institute in Lille, France from an attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis, BCG remains the most widely used vaccine in history with over 4 billion doses administered. Despite variable efficacy against adult pulmonary TB, it prevents severe childhood tuberculosis and remains essential in endemic regions.

South African-born virologist Max Theiler developed the 17D live attenuated vaccine at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, earning the 1951 Nobel Prize. A single dose provides lifelong immunity, and the vaccine has been critical in controlling outbreaks across Africa and South America for nearly 90 years.

After 30 years of development, Mosquirix became the first malaria vaccine recommended by the WHO for children in sub-Saharan Africa. While its 30% efficacy is modest, it prevents roughly 40,000 deaths annually when combined with other interventions — a milestone for a parasite that has killed billions throughout human history.

Australian virologist Ruth Bishop identified rotavirus as the leading cause of childhood diarrhea in 1973 at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital. The subsequent vaccines developed by teams in the US and UK have prevented an estimated 140,000 child deaths annually since their global rollout began in 2006.