Infectious disease is a major cause of late life mortality, the result of the age-related decline of immune function. The sizable investment in time and funding that goes into efforts to enhance the efficacy of vaccines in older adults is one example of the costs of attempting to cope with the consequences of aging. Developing new vaccines and better vaccination techniques is an expensive process. Yet coaxing the aged immune system into greater efforts via the use of adjuvants and other more sophisticated vaccine engineering cannot produce the degree of benefit that a much more crude vaccination will produce in a younger adult – one is inherently limited by the aging of the immune system. This …
Vaccination Research and Development as an Example of the Expense of Trying to Cope with Aging
Infectious disease is a major cause of late life mortality, the result of the age-related decline of immune function. The sizable investment in time and funding that goes into efforts to enhance the efficacy of vaccines in older adults is one example of the costs of attempting to cope with the consequences of aging. Developing new vaccines and better vaccination techniques is an expensive process. Yet coaxing the aged immune system into greater efforts via the use of adjuvants and other more sophisticated vaccine engineering cannot produce the degree of benefit that a much more crude vaccination will produce in a younger adult – one is inherently limited by the aging of the immune system. This …