INTRODUCTION

Vaccines for the prevention of at least 15 human viral diseases have been commercialized in the United States (see Table 1); others have been licensed outside the US. Together, these vaccines have formed a primary public health measure for the prevention of these viral diseases worldwide. For the purposes of this chapter, a viral vaccine is a vaccine that prevents a viral disease; this includes products derived from cultured viruses and those derived from recombinant expression of viral antigens. General considerations for both viral and bacterial vaccines are provided in Vaccines for Human Use—General Considerations 〈1235〉.