40 Results Found

Over the past few decades, the world has seen a considerable uptick in the number of new and emerging infectious disease outbreaks. The development of new vaccines, vaccine technologies, and platforms are critical to enhance our preparedness for biol...

Background/Objectives: Local production is a global priority for increasing access to routine, outbreak, and pandemic vaccines and leads to a variety of direct and indirect benefits for countries. This study aimed to characterize the enabling environ...

The poor perception of the benefits of vaccines, and their subsequent underuse, can result in substantial economic, societal, and political burden. Adequate support and communication from health authorities and governments is essential to promote the...

This Review initiates a wide-ranging discussion over 2023 by selecting and exploring core themes to be investigated more deeply in papers submitted to the Vaccines Special Issue on the “Future of Epidemic and Pandemic Vaccines to Serve Global P...

In April 2024, a hybrid meeting organized by the WHO, PAHO, and MPP during the World Bank Spring Meetings focused on financing mRNA-based technologies in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). This meeting sought to engage multilateral development...

As the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) strategizes towards the final steps of eradication, routine immunization schedules evolve, and high-quality vaccination campaigns and surveillance systems remain essential. New tools are consistently...

Vaccination plays a key role in reducing morbidity and mortality caused by infectious diseases, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic. However, a comprehensive approach that allows the planning of vaccination campaigns and the estimation of the reso...

Background: Following the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation, 38/47 countries have introduced rotavirus vaccines into the program of immunization in the WHO Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO). Initially, two vaccines (Rotarix and Rotat...

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis marks a rare example of a supply disruption that had a devastating effect on the global economy. The vaccine has then been considered to be an effective long-term solution. The particularity of the supply chain of the COV...

The 8th meeting of the African Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (AACVS), constituted in 2021, convened by the Vaccine Research and Innovation Unit within the Vaccine Preventable Diseases Program, WHO Regional Office for Africa, was held virtually...

Background/Objectives: As we commemorate 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), the global mission to eradicate polio stands at a critical juncture. While remarkable progress has been made over the past decades, ensuring a steady s...

Schistosomiasis, caused by human trematode blood flukes (schistosomes), remains one of the most prevalent and serious of the neglected tropical parasitic diseases. Currently, treatment of schistosomiasis relies solely on a single drug, the anthelmint...

Zoonotic influenza viruses, including highly pathogenic avian influenza and swine-origin variants, continue to cause sporadic human infections with, in some cases, high case fatality rates and potential for sustained human-to-human transmission. The...

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated both the transformative capacity of vaccine innovation and the persistent inequities that accompany emergency access, underscoring the critical need for stronger collaboration between global health governance and th...

Ensuring timely access to affordable vaccines has been acknowledged as a global public health priority, as also recently testified by the debate sparked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Effective vaccine procurement strategies are essential to reach thi...

Vaccine equity and access remain critical challenges in global health, particularly in regions with complex socio-political landscapes, like the Middle East. This review examines disparities in vaccine distribution within the Middle Eastern context,...

Vaccines remain one of the most effective tools in combating infectious diseases, though traditional platforms are constrained by limitations including suboptimal immunogenicity, safety concerns, and manufacturing complexity. Circular RNA (circRNA) v...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a globally prevalent sexually-transmitted pathogen, responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. HPV vaccination rates remain suboptimal, partly due to the need for multiple doses, leading to a lack of compliance and i...

SARS-CoV-2, with an infection fatality rate between 0.5 and 1%, has spread to all corners of the globe and infected millions of people. While vaccination is essential to protect against the virus and halt community transmission, rapidly making and de...

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a significant respiratory pathogen, particularly in vulnerable populations. Background: No vaccine for the prevention of HMPV is currently licensed, although several subunit vaccines are in development. Saponin-based a...

Measles and rubella micro-array patches (MR-MAPs) are a promising innovation to address limitations of the current needle and syringe (N&S) presentation due to their single-dose presentation, ease of use, and improved thermostability. To direct a...

The current pandemic has highlighted the ever-increasing risk of human to human spread of zoonotic pathogens. A number of medically-relevant zoonotic pathogens are negative-strand RNA viruses (NSVs). NSVs are derived from different virus families. Ex...

The Madin–Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cell line is among the most commonly used cell lines for the production of influenza virus vaccines. As cell culture-based manufacturing is poised to replace egg-based processes, increasing virus production...

The objective of this review is to describe the evolution of lung tissue-derived diploid progenitor cell applications, ranging from historical biotechnological substrate functions for vaccine production and testing to current investigations around po...

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have emerged as a transformative class of RNA therapeutics, distinguished by their closed-loop structure conferring nuclease resistance, reduced immunogenicity, and sustained translational activity. While challenges in pharma...

Vaccination represents a critical preventive strategy in the current global healthcare system, serving as an indispensable intervention against diverse pathogenic threats. Although conventional immunization relies predominantly on hypodermic needle-b...

The 100-Day Mission, coordinated by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and endorsed by significant international stakeholders, aims to shorten the timeframe for developing and implementing vaccines to 100 days after the report...

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have redefined cancer immunotherapy, offering unparalleled flexibility to encode tumor-specific antigens and to be adapted to individual mutational landscapes. Melanoma, with its high mutational burden and responsiveness...

During the sustained COVID-19 pandemic, global mass vaccination to achieve herd immunity can prevent further viral spread and mutation. A protein subunit vaccine that is safe, effective, stable, has few storage restrictions, and involves a liable man...

Peptide-loaded poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanocarriers represent a transformative approach to addressing the challenges of peptide-based therapies. These systems offer solutions to peptide instability, enzymatic degradation, and limited bioava...

Nanoscale lipid bilayers, or nanoliposomes, are generally spherical vesicles formed by the dispersion of phospholipid molecules in a water-based medium by energy input. The other nanoscale object discussed in this entry, i.e., tocosome, is a recently...

Background: The number of cases with cervical cancer is rapidly increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa driven by inadequate rates of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination and screening programs and accompanied by poor health delivery systems. There are o...

Drug delivery through the skin offers many advantages such as avoidance of hepatic first-pass metabolism, maintenance of steady plasma concentration, safety, and compliance over oral or parenteral pathways. However, the biggest challenge for transder...

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) classifies regulatory systems into four maturity levels, with Maturity Level 3 (ML3) signifying a stable and effective regulatory environment. As of January 2025, eight African nation...

One of the most unique non-conventional yeasts, Kluyveromyces marxianus, is rapidly gaining ground in biotechnology applications. K. marxianus possesses fast growth, thermotolerance, and a Crabtree-negative metabolism, features with a clear advantage...

Achieving universal access to electricity by 2030 is a key part of the Agenda for Sustainable Development, and has its own Sustainable Development Goal, SDG 7.1. This is because electricity services are required for almost all aspects of a modern eco...

Since the first approval of monoclonal antibodies by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1986, therapeutic antibodies have become one of the predominant classes of drugs in oncology and immunology. Despite their natural function i...

Somatic embryogenesis (SE) is a morphogenetic pathway widely employed in the commercial micropropagation of plants. This route enables the generation of somatic embryos from somatic tissues, which give rise to complete (bipolar) plants that develop l...

Despite vaccination and antivirals, influenza remains a communicable disease of high burden, with limited therapeutic options available to patients that develop complications. Here, we report the development and preclinical characterization of Adipos...

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are among the most adaptable nanocarriers in modern pharmaceutics, characterized by a high surface area, tunable pore size, controllable morphology, and excellent biocompatibility. These qualities enable effecti...