Vaccine delivery to disease control: a paradigm shift in health policy.

India's Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) has resulted in the creation of infrastructure, human resources and systems for the procurement and delivery of vaccines. Recently, new vaccines have been added and there are plans for the introduction of more. However, the outcomes in terms of reduction of the diseases for which the vaccines are being administered remain ambiguous. This is evident from the persistent health issues that children continue to experience, despite immunisation. This situation raises a fundamental ethical question for public health: vaccinations are one of the tools of disease control, but are they properly aligned to the control of disease so as to produce the expected public health utility or benefit?