White blood cell (purple) engulfs tuberculosis bacteria.Credit: Science Photo Library
Immunology is at a pivotal moment. The huge successes in public health brought about by vaccines are now facing erosion, as anti-vaccination sentiments spread around the world and the United States cuts funding to domestic and overseas infectious-disease research. Measles, for example, was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000 by the World Health Organization, but in July this year, there were more reported cases than in any year since 1992.
Nature Index 2025 Immunology
Researchers are working hard to improve measles prevention and treatment. Erica Ollmann Saphire, president and chief executive of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in San Diego, California, and her team are developing a vaccine that does not use live virus — a safer option for immunocompromised people. And having published a detailed view of a mouse antibody bound to the surface protein of a measles virus (D. S. Zyla et al. Science 384, eadm8693; 2024), Saphire says they have done similar work with a group of human antibodies that they hope will inform new treatments. But funding is a struggle. Researchers working on solutions for tuberculosis and polio say the same thing: the science looks promising, but support is waning.
