More than 2,800 scientists from 130 countries met on Friday (January 15) at a virtual forum organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to identify knowledge gaps and define research priorities for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, the virus that causes COVID- 19
They discussed the safety and efficacy of existing vaccines and new candidates, ways to optimize limited supply and the need for additional safety studies.
“The development and approval of several safe and effective vaccines less than a year after this virus was isolated and sequenced is an amazing scientific achievement,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, in his opening address . “The approval of the first vaccines does not mean that the job is done. Far from it. More vaccines are on the way, which should be evaluated to ensure that we have enough doses to vaccinate everyone. “
More than 30 million doses of vaccine have been administered in 47 countries, most of them high-income. But the global launch of the vaccine exposed stark inequalities in access to this life-saving tool.
“The spirit of collaboration must prevail in these challenging times as we seek to understand this virus,” said Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We have to be aware of inequalities and we must deliberately promote investment in regional capabilities to level the playing field and have meaningful collaboration to begin to address some of the challenges.”
The experts agreed on the need for critical research on vaccine administration in different target populations, as well as on vaccine delivery strategies and schedules. This includes testing, modeling and observational studies, all of which would help inform policy.
They discussed the impact of emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 on vaccine effectiveness, the impact of vaccines on transmission of infection and the need to develop the next generation of vaccine platforms.
“The world needs multiple vaccines that act on different populations to meet global demand and end the COVID-19 outbreak. Ideally, these will be single-dose vaccines that do not require a cold chain, can be administered without a needle and syringe and are amenable to large-scale manufacturing, ”said Professor Mike Levine, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland.
The meeting concluded with an agreement to establish a WHO-hosted platform for global sharing and coordination of information emerging from vaccine research on efficacy and safety. The forum would allow scientists to share and discuss unpublished and published data and research protocols to deepen our collective understanding of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
“WHO will regularly bring together experts from around the world, promote collaborative research, provide standard protocols and develop a platform to share the latest knowledge in the field,” said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO Chief Scientist.