Vaccines are one of the public health success stories of the 20th century, having led to some of the greatest and most cost-effective achievements in public health.

Mass immunization programs have resulted in the global eradication of smallpox and the elimination of polio from the Western Hemisphere and much of Asia, while vaccines for diseases like measles, pertussis and diphtheria have dramatically reduced childhood mortality worldwide. Because of gaps in the healthcare infrastructure and work force of the developing world, however, preventive measures such as immunization programs are both difficult to deliver and particularly critical to the health and economies of developing countries. Merck continues to make progress in our mission of preventing disease and saving lives by bringing forward new innovative vaccines, working with others in public/private partnerships to make them accessible to those who need them around the world, and helping to build capacity in developing countries.

To improve the healthcare infrastructure needed to implement immunization programs, and to ensure that vaccines reach those who need them, especially in developing countries, we continue to develop novel business strategies and work with many partners in public/private collaborations.

In September 2009, the Wellcome Trust and Merck announced the creation of the MSD-Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories, the first of its kind research and development joint venture with a not-for-profit mission to focus on developing affordable vaccines to prevent diseases that commonly affect low-income countries.

A unique challenge in introducing new vaccines in resource-constrained settings is the need to demonstrate the feasibility of mass immunization among the targeted population and the public health benefit in terms of health and economic outcomes of immunization. This information is vital to countries' decision-making and prioritization-setting processes for scarce health resources—both financial and professional.

Merck is pursuing a systematic and thoughtful approach to expanding access to ROTATEQ^® (rotavirus vaccine, live, oral, pentavalent) and GARDASIL^® [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16, and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] in the developing world, including a number of initiatives to study the public health impact of routine vaccination programs and to accelerate the introduction of vaccines in resource-poor countries.