An interview with Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala from the A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland.
Entirely novel vaccines, developed at record speed, have been employed to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic. The technology these vaccines are based on has however been investigated for over 20 years, and it has been successfully used in several patient studies in e.g. oncology.
World Immunization Week – celebrated in the last week of April (24 to 30 April) – aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. Immunization saves millions of lives every year and is widely recognized as one of the world’s most successful and cost-effective health interventions.
The amount of TBE cases reported to the National Infectious Diseases Register of The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) rose significantly compared to previous years. In 2021 150 TBE cases were reported to the register, preceded by 69-91 cases/year during 2017-2020. The rise may be due to climate change, awareness of tick-borne diseases and the increase in domestic travel and outdoor activities.
