Vaccination today – differences between effectiveness and effect of a vaccine

So-called „evidence based medicine“ (EBM) is the self-proclaimed gold standard of conventional medical therapy and disease prevention. Application of methods and terms derived from EBM to current vaccination programs and recommendations is extremely helpful in the context of a differentiated discussion and evaluation. Particularly when evaluating studies on the effectiveness of vaccination there has to be a clear distinction between the „surrogate endpoints“ (often used as criteria in such studies) and the solely relevant „clinical endpoints“. Here one finds numerous examples of immunization and vaccination prog…