Vaccinology

Vaccines are among the most successful tools available for protecting public health, but effective vaccines are still lacking for many infectious diseases that are important in Africa – including HIV, viruses that cause major outbreaks in African populations, and parasitic diseases including worm infections. As well, vaccines work better in some communities than others, with poor communities in rural, low-income, tropical settings often at a disadvantage.
Our theme will contribute to
• Developing new vaccines of particular importance for Africa, and testing them in clinical trials – for example vaccines against viruses such as Rift Valley Fever which causes outbreaks among humans and farm animals in East Africa, and against debilitating worm infections such as schistosomiasis
• Understanding how best to employ vaccines in Africa – for example how vaccines can be combined with other preventive measures against HIV, or what the most appropriate dosing schedules are for particular age groups and needs
• Investigating why some vaccines work differently in different communities, and working with communities to develop strategies that enable them to benefit from vaccines to the full
• Understanding how different communities learn about, understand and perceive vaccines, and what makes people confident to use them
• Building vaccine research expertise among African researchers
This work will contribute to ensuring that African communities secure the maximum possible benefit from vaccines.

Vaccines are among our most successful public health interventions as shown during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but deficiencies in Africa’s vaccine research capacity have been recognised. Our vaccine research is strongly aligned to the Unit’s mission to undertake research and capacity building for control of infectious diseases. Our goal is to contribute to optimising vaccines for Africa and globally. The key objectives of our focus areas are:
1) Vaccines for viruses: to contribute to control and prevention of viral infectious diseases through vaccine development, trials and implementation research. Targets are to identify and prepare populations for future vaccine trials; determine safety, efficacy and effectiveness of vaccines or vaccines with other interventions, and of vaccine schedules, for disease prevention in Africa; investigate vaccine hesitancy and identify strategies to support vaccine uptake; and contribute to national and regional vaccine development strategies.
2) Immunomodulation and vaccines: to determine why some vaccine responses are impaired in rural, low-income, tropical settings, and what can be done to optimise them. Targets are to identify key, modifiable social and biological exposures, and mechanistic pathways, which influence vaccine responses and impact; and to model and test interventions to improve vaccine impact in vulnerable communities.
The techniques to be used include epidemiology and clinical trials, including the development of controlled human infection studies relevant to the endemic setting. Laboratory work will harness molecular methods and a range of immunological techniques addressing measures of immunogenicity and correlates of protective immunity, as well as research using high-dimensional flow cytometry to understand immunological pathways associated with vaccine responses and efficacy. Cross-cutting community engagement and social science research will include quantitative and qualitative approaches.
The balance between the focus areas is expected to be about equal.