Evolution of Vaccinology and Immunization Decision-Making Processes

Dear Colleagues,

Immunization is one of the most effective and high-impact public health interventions, saving over 4 million lives annually. By stimulating immune systems to recognize pathogens, vaccines prevent serious diseases like measles, pneumonia, and polio, functioning as a vital tool in primary health care and global health security. Vaccine design, vaccine development, vaccine implementation as well as immunization impact assessments can be collectively referred to as vaccinology. Vaccinology has evolved from ancient practices of variolation to precise, modern molecular engineering, transforming global public health. Key milestones include Edward Jenner’s 1796 smallpox vaccine, Louis Pasteur’s 19th-century attenuated vaccines, and 20th-century breakthroughs in cell culture, culminating in modern mRNA technology used to produce COVID-19 vaccines. This evolution has transitioned from empirical observation to increasingly AI-driven, rapid-response antigen design. While these advances in vaccinology have created unprecedented opportunities, they have also introduced new challenges, including operational, societal and decision-making challenges. This Issue focusses on the opportunities, challenges, and lessons learnt as well as the way forward for vaccinology and immunization decision-making processes.

We are pleased to invite you to submit your manuscript to our Special Issue titled “Evolution of Vaccinology and Immunization Decision-Making Processes”.

The aim of the Special Issue is to provide a concise summary of how the evolving vaccinology landscape has opened up opportunities to optimize the utility of vaccines for public health while at the same time creating complexity in immunization decision-making processes.

Article types for submission and suggested themes

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following article types and themes:

- Vaccine manufacturing capacity in LMICs

- Innovative vaccine development and testing strategies

- Immunization decision-making processes and challenges (including ethics)

- Vaccine switches and vaccine schedule optimization

- New vaccine introduction and implementation and assessing the impact of immunization programs

- Evolution of vaccine design and development

- Innovative ways for vaccine testing and deployment (including clinical trial innovation and accelerated evaluation, regulation, technology transfer)

- Lessons learnt and case studies related to vaccinology and immunization (national, regional and global experiences).

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue. We welcome submissions from all regions, but we especially encourage submissions from low- and middle-income countries.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Benjamin Kagina
Dr. Carine Dochez
Dr. Elizabeth O. Oduwole
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized 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.

• vaccinology
• Evidence-to-Recommendation (EtR)
• NITAGs
• immunization
• AEFI
• vaccine confidence
• vaccine switches
• immunization schedule optimization