Vaccines
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This branch covers vaccines, divided by the biological or practical question: how they work, how they are developed and supplied, and how they protect populations. It leaves disease biology, trial design, regulatory authorisation, pharmacovigilance reporting and communication about hesitancy to neighbouring branches.
- Vaccines and the immune response — immune memory, preventive and therapeutic vaccination, adjuvants, boosters, benefit–risk and allergen immunotherapy
- Vaccine platforms — whole-virus, viral-vector, protein-based and nucleic-acid approaches and delivery into cells
- Updating vaccine strain composition — surveillance, seasonal influenza strain selection and removal of the B/Yamagata component
- Herd immunity and vaccination coverage — indirect protection, coverage thresholds and people exposed by gaps
- Vaccine safety failures and scares — the Cutter incident, thimerosal and autism, and withdrawal of the first rotavirus vaccine
- Developing vaccines for underserved populations — manufacturing compatibility, neglected-disease financing and COVID-19 technology transfers
- Weighing distributed manufacturing as a route to vaccine equity — local production, biofoundries, workforce and regulatory needs, and unresolved questions
- Smallpox, variolation and the first vaccination campaign — smallpox, the risks of variolation, Jenner’s cowpox vaccination and Spain’s vaccination programme
- Developing an HIV vaccine — viral diversity, the unknown correlate of protection and vaccine concepts studied in 2018