Master in Vaccinology and Drug Development

20/03/2026

The global threat of vaccine-preventable neurological diseases 🧠💉

Vaccination is one of the greatest achievements in public health, yet declining immunization coverage is allowing the resurgence of diseases that can severely affect the nervous system.

A recent review highlights that infections such as measles, poliomyelitis, Japanese encephalitis, meningococcal disease, and pertussis can lead to serious neurological complications, including acute and chronic disability and high mortality.

Factors contributing to this resurgence include:
🔹 Vaccine hesitancy and misinformation
🔹 Disruptions in immunization programs
🔹 Limited access to vaccines in some regions
🔹 Geopolitical instability and strained health systems

Strengthening global vaccination strategies, equitable access to vaccines, and public health education will be essential to prevent a growing burden of vaccine-preventable neurological diseases and protect vulnerable populations.

Read the full article:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41582-025-01172-w

18/03/2026

How are vaccines developed and approved? 🧪💉

Developing a vaccine is a rigorous scientific process that can take years and involves multiple stages designed to ensure safety, quality, and effectiveness.

According to the CDC, the process typically includes:
🔬 Research and discovery
🧫 Pre-clinical studies
👥 Clinical trials (Phases 1–3)
🏭 Manufacturing and quality control
📑 Regulatory review and approval
📊 Continuous safety monitoring after approval

Even after a vaccine is licensed, surveillance systems continue monitoring safety and effectiveness in real-world populations.

Understanding this process helps build trust in vaccines and highlights the scientific rigor behind their development.

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12/03/2026

Aluminum Exposure and Health: What the Evidence Shows 🔬🧠

Aluminum is one of the most abundant elements in the environment, and human exposure occurs daily through food, water, medications, and some medical products. A recent article published in JAMA provides an updated overview of sources of aluminum exposure, biological handling, and current evidence on potential health effects.

Key points highlighted include:

🔹 Aluminum absorption is generally low and tightly regulated in healthy individuals
🔹 The kidneys play a central role in aluminum elimination
🔹 Adverse health effects are primarily associated with high or prolonged exposure, particularly in patients with impaired renal function
🔹 Ongoing research continues to refine safe exposure thresholds using modern toxicological and epidemiological methods

For vaccinology and drug development professionals, this topic is especially relevant as it reinforces the importance of:

✔️ Evidence-based risk assessment
✔️ Distinguishing exposure from toxicity
✔️ Communicating safety data clearly to counter misinformation
✔️ Relying on high-quality clinical and population-level evidence

Understanding aluminum exposure requires context, dose, and biology — not assumptions.

🔗 Read more:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2844763

This Perspective examines aluminum exposure from vaccines and diet, including how the body processes aluminum, possible health effects, and safety considerations.

06/03/2026

The Master in Vaccinology and Drug Development shapes professionals who drive progress in vaccine research, policy, and implementation across the world.

For more than a decade, our graduates have taken leadership roles in organizations that transform scientific discovery into life-saving solutions. 💉🎓

🌐 ifgh.org

04/03/2026

Polio: A Reminder of Why Vaccines Matter 💉🦠

Approximately 1 in 200 poliovirus infections leads to irreversible paralysis — a devastating outcome that once shaped entire generations.

In the 1950s and 1960s, children with paralytic polio often depended on iron lungs to survive, as the virus impaired the muscles required for breathing 🫁⚙️. These machines became a symbol of the burden polio placed on families and health systems worldwide.

Today, we rarely see iron lungs — not because polio disappeared on its own, but because vaccination changed the course of history 📉🌍.

For vaccinology and public health professionals, polio remains a powerful case study:
✔️ The life-saving impact of effective vaccines
✔️ The importance of sustained immunization coverage
✔️ The risk of resurgence when vaccination gaps emerge

Polio reminds us that the absence of disease is often the success of prevention — not its irrelevance.

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02/03/2026

Reverse Vaccinology and Next-Generation Vaccine Discovery 🔍🧬💡

A recent ScienceDirect article discusses one of the most promising innovations in modern vaccine science: reverse vaccinology — a genomics-driven approach that uses bioinformatics to identify potential vaccine antigens directly from pathogen genomes. Unlike traditional methods that rely on culturing microbes, reverse vaccinology accelerates discovery by scanning entire proteomes to pinpoint targets for protective immune responses.

This strategy has already revolutionized vaccine research for several pathogens and illustrates how computational tools and systems biology are reshaping antigen discovery and design. By combining genomic data with predictive algorithms, researchers can rapidly shortlist candidates that could lead to effective vaccines — especially important for pathogens where classic approaches have struggled.

Key takeaways for vaccinology professionals:
• 🧠 Genomics accelerates candidate antigen discovery
• 📊 Bioinformatics bridges genome data with immunogenic prediction
• 🧪 Targets identified in silico can inform novel vaccine design faster
• 🔄 This approach complements structural and systems vaccinology to enable next-generation vaccines for complex or emerging diseases.
👇
Read the full article to explore how reverse vaccinology is influencing the future of vaccine development:
👉 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264410X25014859

27/02/2026

The Socioeconomic Value of Adult Immunization Programs 💡💉

A new cost-benefit analysis published in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics highlights the substantial socioeconomic returns of adult vaccination programs across diverse countries. 📈💼

As global populations age, decision-makers face key questions:
👉 Should adult immunization be prioritized?
👉 How do we measure its broader value beyond direct clinical outcomes?

This modeling study found that:
🔹 Vaccination programs for influenza, pneumococcal disease, herpes zoster, and RSV consistently generate positive benefit–cost ratios across ten countries.
🔹 Estimated returns often exceeded 5–19 times the investment, even after considering non-monetary benefits.
🔹 Programs with high mortality impacts (e.g., influenza and pneumococcal) yielded the highest returns.

📌 Why this matters for vaccinology:
• Adult immunization isn’t only a health intervention — it’s an economic and societal investment.
• As populations age globally, proactive immunization can protect healthcare systems and improve quality of life for older adults.
• Evidence like this strengthens the argument for expanding vaccination strategies beyond childhood schedules.

Vaccination across the life course isn’t just good science — it’s cost-effective public health policy. 🌍💪📊

Read more: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2025.2602976

26/02/2026

Immunization Across the Life Course: A Strategic Framework for Public Health 🌍💉

Vaccination isn’t just for childhood — it’s a lifelong public health investment. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO-WHO ) Life Course Approach (LCA) highlights how strategic vaccination across all ages can prevent disease, reduce immunity gaps, and maximize health outcomes throughout life.

The LCA emphasizes that:
🔹 Our immune system changes over time — immunity wanes and susceptibility shifts with age.
🔹 Vaccines should be delivered when they offer the greatest benefit — from infancy to older adulthood.
🔹 Integrating immunization with other age-appropriate health services strengthens overall health trajectories.

Examples of life course immunization include:
🧒 Early childhood vaccines scheduled at critical developmental windows
🤰 Maternal vaccines that protect both mothers and infants
👵 Adult and older adult boosters that counteract immunosenescence

This approach not only closes immunity gaps at each life stage, but also helps reduce health inequities across populations and generations.

For vaccinology professionals, the life course perspective:
✔️ Reinforces the importance of tailored vaccination strategies
✔️ Encourages holistic integration with primary health care
✔️ Supports sustainable and equitable immunization programs

Vaccination isn’t just a moment in childhood — it’s a lifelong commitment to health. 🌟💪

🌐 ifgh.org

25/02/2026

Measles Resurgence: A Global Vaccinology Challenge 🌍🦠

After decades of progress toward elimination, measles is re-emerging in multiple regions worldwide. This is not a vaccine failure — it is a systems failure ⚠️.

Measles remains one of the most contagious human viral diseases, with an R₀ of 12–18 🔬. Even small declines in two-dose vaccination coverage can rapidly lead to outbreaks when herd immunity thresholds (~95%) are not sustained 📉🧒.

Key drivers of resurgence include:
🔹 Declining routine immunization coverage
🔹 Vaccine hesitancy and misinformation 📲
🔹 Post-pandemic immunity gaps in children
🔹 Increased global mobility and cross-border transmission ✈️

The measles vaccine, delivered through the MMR platform, is a live attenuated vaccine with ~97% effectiveness after two doses 💉🧬. When coverage is high, outbreaks are preventable.

For vaccinology and drug development professionals, measles resurgence reinforces critical lessons:

✔️ The fragility of elimination status
✔️ The importance of sustained surveillance and catch-up strategies 🔎
✔️ The need for evidence-based vaccine confidence initiatives
✔️ The role of equity in global immunization systems 🌐

Measles is a reminder that maintaining protection requires continuous investment in science, systems, and trust 🧠📊.

🌐 ifgh.org

20/02/2026

📊 New research published in JAMA Pediatrics highlights the impact of vaccine policy on childhood immunization rates.

The study shows that eliminating nonmedical vaccine exemptions (such as personal or philosophical exemptions) is associated with higher vaccination coverage among kindergarten-aged children. States that fully removed these exemptions experienced meaningful increases in coverage for key vaccines, including MMR, DTaP, hepatitis B, and polio.

🔍 Key findings:
States that eliminated all nonmedical exemptions saw higher vaccination rates compared with states that made no policy changes.

Increases in medical exemptions were minimal, suggesting limited substitution.
Partial policy changes had smaller and less sustained effects.

🛡️ Why it matters
As childhood vaccination rates decline in several regions, evidence-based policy decisions play a critical role in preventing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases and strengthening community

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2840422?guestAccessKey=9a0659c9-0694-4495-bc95-3a40ada2b66a&utm_source=linkedin_company&utm_medium=social_jamapeds&utm_term=19181827018&utm_campaign=article_alert&linkId=894623655

18/02/2026

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11/02/2026

Women in Science Day | February 11 👩‍🔬✨

Today, we celebrate the women whose curiosity, leadership, and dedication drive scientific discovery forward—especially in vaccinology and drug development.

From laboratory research to global health policy, women scientists play a vital role in advancing innovation, equity, and evidence-based solutions that protect lives worldwide.

At the Master in Vaccinology and Drug Development, we recognize and support the impact of women shaping the future of immunization and public health.

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