Epidemiology and Real-World Evidence to Inform Vaccine Design, De-Risk Development, and Maximize Real-World Impact
A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "Epidemiology and Vaccination".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 24
Special Issue Editors
Interests: epidemiology; emerging infectious diseases; vaccines; viral hemorrhagic fevers; filoviruses; lassa fever; global health; immunology; clinical trials; mixed methods research
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: epidemiology; emerging infectious diseases; HIV; vaccines; lassa fever; global health; mixed methods research; clinical trials
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
For vaccine developers and researchers navigating an increasingly complex and fast-moving landscape, the integration of epidemiology and real-world evidence (RWE) has become essential across the entire development pipeline – from early-stage discovery and candidate selection to regulatory engagement, market introduction, and post-licensure evaluation.
Epidemiological insights are critical for defining areas for improvement in public health, understanding transmission dynamics, and identifying high-risk or high-impact populations—all of which directly inform target product profiles, development priorities, and the design of clinical trials. RWE further strengthens the value of vaccine candidates by contextualizing clinical trial data, supporting regulatory submissions, and demonstrating effectiveness and safety in real-world use. RWE is also a key tool for detecting rare safety signals, tracking the impact of variants, and quantifying broader effects, such as herd protection. Collectively, epidemiology and RWE enable more strategic decision-making, reduce development risk, and improve the likelihood of successful product adoption and the likelihood that vaccines will exert a sustained impact.
This Special Issue welcomes contributions that demonstrate how epidemiology and RWE can be effectively leveraged to inform vaccine design, de-risk development, accelerate timelines, and optimize real-world implementation. We especially welcome original research and reviews that highlight innovative methodologies, cross-disciplinary approaches, and emerging best practices that can support a more agile, responsive, and evidence-based model of vaccine development. Other article types may also be considered.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Hilary Whitworth
Dr. Suzanna C. Francis
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- epidemiology
- real-world evidence
- real-world data
- vaccine development
- R&D
- immunoepidemiology
- molecular epidemiology
- pre-clinical development
- clinical development
- post-licensure
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