Recent population statistics illustrate the impressive gains that society is making in terms of human longevity. In Belgium, for example, the number of persons 80 years or older is doubling every 10 years. In the first half of the last century, longevity slowly improved as a result of better living and working environments, increased sanitation and hygiene, and greater access to food and clean drinking water. In the second half of the 20th Century, when the gains achieved in terms of years lived have been the most impressive, medical interventions such as vaccination, antibiotics, improved pharmacotherapy (including preventive strategies), patient education/awareness and surgery have all contributed to increased longevity and a better overall health status. Medicine is clearly a success story and a cornerstone of this success has been the introduction of vaccination programs. This is perhaps best illustrated by the eradication of smallpox and the major reduction in diseases with high morbidity and mortality such as poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus, measles, pertussis, rubella, meningococcal meningitis and mumps.
Immunization has become a key component of preventive healthcare strategies worldwide and has clearly reduced the burden of childhood diseases. However, the same cannot be said for the adult population, and it is now thought that more adults die from vaccine-preventable diseases each year than children. A number of factors contribute to this including:
• The increasing size of the ‘older’ population
• Older adults have more frequent and more severe infections
• The natural decline in immune function with age (immunosenescence)
• The misplaced belief that vaccination is for the young
It is becoming clear that promotion of vaccination programs to older persons should become a priority for policy-makers and healthcare providers with the goal of promoting healthy aging. In this regard, it is pleasing to see a number of sessions at the 19th IAGG Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics (Paris, France, 5–9 July 2009) specifically addressing this topic. In this supplement we include two key sessions:
• Healthy aging and preventable infectious diseases vaccines
• Prevention of herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia is now possible: a solution to the challenges of herpes zoster in the elderly
Communication of the benefits of vaccination in older persons, and discussing the barriers that are preventing this, is an important step to reducing the higher morbidity rates in this population and as one of the speakers so aptly noted:
“…to add ‘quality’ to the extra years that people live”.
Adding years to peoples’ lives will be all the more admirable if those lives come with improved functional status and improved quality.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
J-P Baeyens has acted as a lecturer on behalf of Janssen-Cilag, Sanofi Pasteur MSD, Lundbeck and Servier. J-P Michel has acted as a consultant and/or lecturer on behalf of Sanofi Pasteur MSD. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.