Vaccines can majorly reduce the use of antibiotics, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. This significant development could be an important step to combat the growing issue of antimicrobial resistance. WHO's new report highlights that vaccines against 24 different pathogens could cut global antibiotic use by 22%, which translates to a reduction of 2.5 billion daily doses every year.This would be a major step in addressing antimicrobial resistance, a problem caused largely by the overuse and misuse of antimicrobial (bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses) medicines. AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites become resistant to antimicrobial drugs, making infections harder to treat. This leads to increased illness, death, and the spread of infections that are more difficult to cure.WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised this point, stating, "Prevention is better than cure, and increasing access to existing vaccines and developing new ones for critical diseases, like tuberculosis, is crucial to saving lives and tackling AMR."How Can Vaccines Cut Down Use Of Anti-Biotics? Pneumococcus and Hib vaccines: These already available vaccines can prevent deadly infections like pneumonia and meninitis. By increasing global coverage, they could avert 1,06,000 AMR-related deaths each year.New TB and Klebsiella vaccines: Once developed and widely distributed, vaccines for tuberculosis and Klebsiella pneumoniae could save 5,43,000 lives annually by preventing infections that are hard to treat with antibiotics.Saving antibiotic doses: Vaccines for common diseases like typhoid and malaria could save millions of antibiotic doses every year. For instance, malaria vaccines could reduce the misuse of antibiotics by up to 25 million doses annually.Economic impact: Treating resistant pathogens costs hospitals an estimated $730 billion globally each year. By introducing more vaccines, up to one-third of these costs could be saved.Global action: World leaders recently committed to reducing AMR-related deaths by 10% by 2030. Expanding access to vaccines will be a key strategy in achieving this goal.