Challenges
Now we have explored the types of COVID-19 vaccine available, it is important to understand the challenges which remain. Virus variants and COVID-19 vaccines Watch the video to learn how …
Course: Vaccine Development: Finding a Vaccine for COVID-19 and Future Pandemics
Welcome to the Course
Welcome to this course on vaccines; their development and their impact on infectious diseases. The course has been developed by experts in infection and vaccinology. Over the next three weeks …
End of Course Summary
Congratulations! You have completed the final week of Vaccine Development: Finding A Vaccine for COVID-19 and Future Pandemics. Week 3 focused on understanding how vaccines are used to control outbreaks …
Welcome to Week 3
Welcome to week 3! In the course so far we have learned how and why vaccines are developed, as well as how they are tested and manufactured. This week we …
Welcome to Week 2
Welcome to the second week of the course. This week, we will start by exploring how vaccines are tested to make sure they are safe prior to being used widely. …
How will we know if a COVID-19 vaccine works?
Ideally, Phase III studies to assess COVID-19 vaccine efficacy are double blinded RCTs where participants are actively followed post-vaccination to identify COVID-19 infection and the outcomes of infection. In the …
Case Study: How will we know if a COVID-19 vaccine works? Part I
For a COVID-19 vaccine to be successful, we need to know if it works. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, an efficacious vaccine may prevent infection, disease or transmission. Vaccine researchers …
Understanding Vaccine Efficacy and Effectiveness
Many different endpoints are used in vaccine research to define efficacy depending on the pathogen, consequences of infection and transmission dynamics. Commonly, outcome data from Phase III randomised controlled trials …
Assessing the Safety of COVID Vaccines
Currently, there is a great need for an effective COVID-19 vaccine which many see as necessary to end the current pandemic. However, the same rigorous safety assessments are required for …
Clinical Assessment of Vaccine Safety Pre-licensure I
After animal studies, clinical trials in humans begin in a stepwise fashion. The ’first-in-man’ clinical trial is a Phase 1 study where the new vaccine is administered to healthy volunteers …
End of Week 1
We hope that you have enjoyed the first week of this course. You should now have a better understanding of the different types of challenges in creating a vaccine, how …
How the world worked together to develop a vaccine for COVID-19
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had an unprecedented social and economic global impact. The potential for an effective vaccine to mitigate these effects has led to an equally unprecedented international effort …
Manufacturing Vaccines
Manufacture of vaccines is a complex and time-consuming process which requires a high level of expertise. It typically takes between 7 and 36 months to produce, package and deliver vaccines …
End of Week 2
Well done on reaching the end of Week 2! We hope you enjoyed it. You should now have gained an understanding of: How vaccine safety is assessed and monitored Specific …
Distribution of vaccines for COVID-19
There has been much debate and media coverage about how vaccines against COVID-19 will be distributed. To stop transmission there needs to be global access to vaccines, but the key …
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Vaccine Development: Finding a Vaccine for COVID-19 and Future Pandemics