Celebrating vaccine success stories 

To mark World Immunisation Week 2025 the Vaccine Centre Co-Directors, with input from members of the Management Committee, have written an expert opinion reflecting on recent changes in the world of vaccines and calling for renewed advocacy for these life-saving interventions. 

Read the expert opinion

World Immunisation Week Podcast series 

• 24 April: Vaccine Centre Spotlight on Em Prestige: Getting Started in Vaccine Research
• 25 April: Vaccine Centre Spotlight on Ahmed Futa: Coordinating vaccine trials
• 28 April: Vaccine Centre Spotlight on Catherine Hall: Lab-based vaccine research
• 29 April: Vaccine Centre Spotlight on Sheila Balinda: Vaccine research in Uganda
• 30 April: Vaccine Centre Spotlight on Shelley Lees: Anthropological approaches in vaccine research

We are delighted to welcome Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert DBE, Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford, to give the Vaccine Centre Annual Lecture 2024. 

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 demonstrated how unprepared we were to defend ourselves against a virus first identified in 1976. Work began on the development of vaccines against known outbreak pathogens, but in 2020 it was necessary to respond to ‘disease X’, which was spreading around the world at great speed. Post-pandemic, there is still much to be done to develop vaccines against the known and as yet unknown viruses that have the potential to cause a future outbreak or pandemic.

The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session.

Find out more 

This webinar will bring together experts with a wealth of experience in working on and delivering community engagement for vaccination across different contexts. We will explore what works in community engagement and the specific challenges to engaging communities in routine and emergency vaccination campaigns in humanitarian settings. In addition, our panelists will be asked to reflect on the current state of community engagement in the sector, including what is needed to further strengthen the evidence base, accelerate the investment and coordination to ensure that the voices and knowledge of people living in crisis are effectively integrated into the design and implementation of vaccination strategies. 

This event is co-organised by the LSHTM Vaccine Centre & Health in Humanitarian Crisis Centre, the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. 

Find out more 

Responding to polio outbreaks – new vaccine, old foe 

New episode on 22 April 2024

How do we detect and respond to polio outbreaks? And what role do novel oral vaccines play as we chase the ever elusive goal of eradication? 

In this episode of our World Immunization Week series on ‘Responding to Outbreaks’, Dr Ed Parker from the LSHTM Vaccine Centre is joined by Professor Nick Grassly, Dr Isobel Blake, and Dr Laura Cooper from Imperial College London, and Professor Ed Clarke and Dr Larry Kotei from the MRC Unit in The Gambia at LSHTM. 

We discuss recent phase 3 clinical trial of the novel oral poliovirus vaccine in The Gambia, the safety and immunogenicity use of the vaccine when used in outbreak response, and the first study exploring the real-world effectiveness of the vaccine against paralytic polio. 

The use of vaccines in outbreak response 

New episode on 24 April 2024

In this episode, the Vaccine Centre speaks to Ed Newman, Nadine Beckmann and Sophie Everest from the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team, an innovative partnership between the UK Health Security Agency and LSHTM, funded with UK aid by the UK Department of Health and Social Care. The UK-PHRST is a key international partner in infectious disease outbreak detection, prevention, preparedness and response; operational research; and capacity strengthening. They discuss the benefits and challenges of vaccine roll-outs and what to do when vaccines aren’t readily available when responding to outbreaks in UK Official Development Assistance eligible countries across the world, and the importance of community engagement and trust to an effective outbreak response.

Why immunity is about relationships: an anthropological deep dive into outbreak response and vaccine engagement 

New episode out on 26 April 2024

Assistant Professor Ben Kasstan-Dabush from the Department of Global Health & Development at LSHTM sits down with Student Liaison Officers Ashna Pillai and Hao Kai Tseng from the LSHTM Vaccine Centre to talk about vaccines and the relationships between parents, community, and health systems. Together, what we learned from outbreaks is the importance of centring relationships and building  flexibility into immunisation programmes. We take an anthropological deep dive into issues around outbreak response and vaccine coverage through the explorations of Ben Kasstan-Dabush’s research. 

The focus for World Immunisation Week 2023 was on maternal immunisation. Throughout the week the LSHTM Vaccine Centre and partners showcased new developments in maternal vaccines whilst providing an opportunity other vaccines with potential positive health outcomes. 

Day 1 - The Current and Future Landscape of Maternal Immunisation. With Pro

fessor Beate Kampmann (Charité Berlin/LSHTM), Dr Robert Mboizi (MU-JHU Uganda), Dr Simon Procter (LSHTM), Professor Paul Heath (St George’s, University of London) and Dr David Hodgson (LSHTM).

Day 2 -  A hybrid seminar to mark World Malaria Day and WIW. With Dr Magloire Natama, (Institute de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé in Burkino Faso) and Dr Mimi Hou (University of Oxford). 

Day 3 -  Webinar showcasing work on maternal immunisation by Early Career Researchers at LSHTM and beyond. With Dr Ed Parker. 

Day 4 -  Hepatitis E vaccination and implementation research. This webinar is jointly organised by the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), co

-chaired by Dr Rejwana Haque Pial from IVI and Dr Kiesha Prem from LSHTM, with Dr Anh Wartel, Dr Tracey Chantler, Dr Katerina Rok Song and Dr Debra Jackson. 

Seminar focused on Shigella vaccines, with Professor Daniel Cohen (Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University).  

Day 5 - Maternal participation in vaccine trials, chaired by Dr Luisa Enria (LSHTM), with Dr Lys Alcayna- Stevens (KU Leuven & Harvard) and Sandrena Fischer (Ethox Centre, Oxford). 

For World Immunisation Week 2022, the VaC focussed on on vaccine developments and implementation challenges in key infectious diseases yet to be controlled/contained/eliminated by effective vaccines. Each day, we heard from experts in the field about different infectious diseases. The recordings of these webinars are below.

Day 1 - Malaria: Where are the vaccines? Dr Kevin Tetteh, Professor Faith Osier and Professor Alassane Dicko

Day 2 - Defeating Meningitis by 2030: the essential role of vaccines in the WHO roadmap. Dr Nicholas Davies, Dr Ed Clarke and Dr Caroline Trotter

Day 3 - Where are the vaccines that are better than the BCG? Dr Toyin Togun, Dr Jayne Sutherland and Professor Richard White

Day 4 - The chequered pathway to HIV vaccine development. Dr Tracey Chantler, Professor Tomas Hanke, Dr Vincent Muturi-Kioi, Dr William Killembe and Dr Walter Jaoko

Day 5 - Delivering life-saving vaccines in conflict situations – a case study from Afghanistan. Dr Palwasha Anwari, Dr Dagastir Nazary, Dr Najibullah Safi and Ms Veronique Maeva Fages

For World Immunisation Week 2021, the VaC hosted a series of remote events focusing each day on an important area of vaccine research, science and debate. The theme of the week 2021 was 'vaccines brings us closer''.

Day 1 - Vaccines against diarrhoeal illnesses

Dr Ed Parker, LSHTM & Professor Calman McLennan Oxford/BactiVaC/BMGF

Day 2 - COVID-19 vaccine passports or certification: a good or bad idea?

Prof James Wilson, UCL & Dr Edgar Whitley, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Day 3 - Enhancing mother’s gifts: Up and coming vaccines for pregnant women to protect their newborns from infections

Professor Kirsty le Doare, St George’s UL/MRC Uganda Virus Research Institute (MRC/UVRI) & Dr Fiona Culley, Imperial College London

Day 4 - Human challenge models to advance vaccines against respiratory pathogens

Dr Chris Chiu, Imperial College London & Professor Robert Read, University of Southampton

Day 5 - Vaccine Centre Annual Lecture: “Vaccines and monoclonals to regain our freedom”

Dr Rino Rappuoli, GSK

To mark World Immunisation Week 2020, the VaC hosted a series of webinars looking at 'vaccines throughout the lifecourse'. On each day of the week we focused on a vaccine relevant for a particular age group starting with maternal immunization, then newborns, infants and toddlers, adolescents and finally older adults. The Centre then hosted a special event on COVID-19 vaccines. The recording for all 6 webinars are listed below:

Day 1: Group B streptococcus (GBS) in pregnancy - https://bit.ly/WIWVaCGBS

Day 2: Vaccinating newborns against Hepatitis B in pregnancy - https://bit.ly/WIWVaCHepB

Day 3: Understanding the impact of pneumococcal vaccines - https://bit.ly/WIWVaCPneufile

Day 4: Immunization and adolescents – the HPV vaccine - https://bit.ly/WIWVaCHPV

Day 5: Prevention and vaccines in older people - https://bit.ly/WIWVaCEld

Day 6: COVID-19 vaccines to the rescue? https://bit.ly/WIWVaCCOVID

What is Group A Streptococcus? Why isn't there a vaccine? Who is at risk from infection?

Professor Shiranee Sriskandan from the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London sits down with Professor Beate Kampmann from the LSHTM Vaccine Centre to talk about Group A streptococcus and the work being done in her lab and beyond.

In this podcast, Professor Beate Kampmann director of the LSHTM Vaccine Centre, sits down with Dr Sami Gottlieb from the Department of Reproductive Health and Research at the World Health Organisation (WHO) to hear more about the global road map on STI Vaccines.

To mark World Pneumonia Day a team from LSHTM and KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme worked with Ministry of Health staff in Kilifi County, Kenya, to organise a series of events. This included five short films, two radio broadcasts and three community theatre events.

To celebrate World Immunization Week the Vaccine Centre at LSHTM produced a short podcast series to showcase the important work going on in Vaccine application, innovation and evaluation at the School and beyond.

Episode 1: Progress towards a universal flu vaccine

Episode 2: Learning from Nature - protecting newborns against infections

Episode 3: TB and the story of the BCG vaccine

Episode 4: New TB vaccines - the cutting edge

Episode 5: Understanding vaccine confidence - insights from social science

Episode 6: A WHO perspective on vaccines and immunisation