The development of a human cell strain that allowed vaccines to be produced safely has saved some 10 million lives worldwide since 1962.

This life-saving cell strain called "WI-38" was developed by Dr. Leonard Hayflick of the University of California, San Francisco.

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In 1963, vaccination against polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, adenovirus, rabies and hepatitis A became widespread thanks to the development of WI-38. Globally, the vaccines developed from this strain and its derivatives prevented an estimated 4.5 billion cases of disease and saved more than 10 million lives.

Nearly 200 million cases of these infectious diseases and 450,000 deaths from these diseases were prevented in the U.S. alone between 1963 and 2015 by vaccination, estimate researchers. The study was published in AIMS Public Health.

Hayflick developed the normal human cell strain in 1962, and it has been used ever since to safely grow the viruses needed to produce vaccines against more than 10 diseases. Before this, many viral vaccines were grown in monkey cells, but contamination with potentially dangerous monkey viruses forced an end to production, leaving millions vulnerable to common diseases.

"Given the acknowledged large, positive global health impact of vaccines in general, I was curious what contribution my discovery of WI-38 in 1962 had in saving lives and reducing morbidity, since a large number of viral vaccines in use today are made with my cell strain or its derivatives," said Hayflick.

"Vaccination is a particularly important issue to think about now, given the rise of an anti-vaccine movement that has the potential to reverse the health gains achieved through one of the most powerful interventions in medical history," according to Hayflick.

"The anti-vaccination movement endangers the health of an entire generation of children."

An estimated 1.4 million children under 5 worldwide still die each year due to lack of access to vaccines.

Hayflick produced the first oral polio vaccine made on a continuously propagated cell strain. WI-38 is now used for the production of all of the Rubella Virus vaccine used in the Western Hemisphere.

WI-38, or new diploid cell strains, is used today for the manufacture of most human virus vaccines produced throughout the world, including those for poliomyelitis, rubella, rubeola, varicella, mumps, rabies, adenoviruses and hepatitis A.

TagsDr. Leonard Hayflick, WI-38, University of California, San Francisco, vaccines, vaccination, Polio, measles, mumps, adenovirus, Hepatitis A