This is a timeline of the development of prophylactic human vaccines. Early vaccines may be listed by the first year of development or testing, but later entries usually show the year the vaccine finished trials and became available on the market. Although vaccines exist for the diseases listed below, only smallpox has been eliminated worldwide. The other illnesses continue to cause tens of millions of deaths each year. Currently, polio and measles are the targets of active worldwide eradication
18th century
1796 vaccine for smallpox developed by Edward Jenner. This was the first vaccine developed as a treatment for any disease, and was derived from a weakened version of the disease cowpox.
19th century
1879 First vaccine for cholera
1885 First vaccine for rabies by Louis Pasteur and Émile Roux
1890 First vaccine for tetanus
1896 First vaccine for typhoid fever
1897 First vaccine for bubonic plague
20th century
1921 First vaccine for diphtheria
1926 First vaccine for pertussis (whooping cough)
1927 First vaccine for tuberculosis
1932 First vaccine for yellow fever
1937 First vaccine for typhus
1945 First vaccine for influenza
1952 First vaccine for polio by Jonas Salk
1954 First vaccine for Japanese encephalitis
1954 First vaccine for anthrax
1957 First vaccine for adenovirus-4 and 7
1962 First oral polio vaccine
1963 First vaccine for measles
1967 First vaccine for mumps
1970 First vaccine for rubella
1974 First vaccine for chicken pox
1977 First vaccine for pneumonia (Streptococcus pneumoniae)
1978 First vaccine for meningitis (Neisseria meningitidis)
1981 First vaccine for hepatitis B (first vaccine to target a cause of cancer)
1985 First vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae type b (HiB)
1992 First vaccine for hepatitis A
1998 First vaccine for Lyme disease
1998 First vaccine for rotavirus
21st century
2003 First nasal vaccine for influenza approved in US, FluMist by MedImmune
2006 First vaccine for human papillomavirus, Gardasil by Merck & Co.
2009 Swine flu vaccine
(source:wikipedia)
