Let's think about what decisionmakers in Ministries of Health need to know to make informed choices about what vaccines to introduce into their immunization programs, when and how. The list is long: disease burden, vaccine efficacy, costs and benefits of different introduction strategies (general or high-risk populations? routine or campaign?), financing approaches and more. And the lack of that information, available in a credible and timely way, is one of the barriers to uptake of newer vaccines.This is not a new problem but it's one that has intensified in recent years as newer and costlier vaccines have been made available, particularly through the financial support of the GAVI Alliance. So far, there has been a somewhat patchy, vaccine-by-vaccine response to the need for information and technical assistance. So the creation of the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is a welcome addition to the landscape, bringing together a broad range of expertise in biomedical science, public health, bioethics, economics and public policy to develop and share new knowledge to inform vaccine-related decisions. Led by Orin Levine (no relation), the early emphasis will be on vaccines against respiratory diseases that claim millions of lives in developing countries.We'll look forward to the updates from Orin, who somehow also manages to fit Twitter and commentaries on the Huffington Post into his life to keep us all informed. And we'll be particularly interested in hearing how the new Center's is working with and reinforcing other important players, whose best efforts are needed for long-term success in vaccine development and deployment. In particular, WHO's Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals group has a vital role to play in creating the normative guidance and providing information and support to Ministries of Health; I'm hoping IVAC's excellent team find optimal ways to work with WHO. And the research community in developing countries also is crucial to long-term success. Time and again we see that rigorous research done by in-country researchers who are full intellectual partners has bigger impact on decision making than imported analyses. Orin, who did landmark research in the Gambia and elsewhere, can amplify his team's positive impact immeasurably through its collaborations.
CGD blog posts reflect the views of the authors, drawing on prior research and experience in their areas of expertise.
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