PATH Influenza Vaccine Project: accelerating the development of new influenza vaccines for low-resource countries

Abstract

The 2009 influenza A/H1N1 pandemic demonstrated that a pandemic influenza virus has the potential to spread more rapidly in today’s highly interconnected world than in the past. While pandemic morbidity and mortality are likely to be greatest in low-resource countries, manufacturing capacity and access to influenza vaccines predominantly exist in countries with greater resources and infrastructure. Even with recently expanded manufacturing capacity, the number of doses available within a 6-month timeframe would be inadequate to fully immunize the global population if the decision to implement a global vaccination program were made today. Improved, affordable vaccines are needed to limit the consequences of a global influenza outbreak and protect low-resource populations. PATH’s Influenza Vaccine Project is supporting a range of activities in collaboration with private- and public-sector partners to advance the development of promising influenza vaccines that can be accessible and affordable for people in low-resource countries.

Keywords::

• global access
• Influenza Vaccine Project
• influenza vaccines
• low-resource countries
• pandemic influenza
• PATH

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to extend their appreciation to Douglas Holtzman, Deputy Director, Infectious Diseases, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Influenza Vaccine Project Scientific Advisory Board for providing technical and strategic guidance.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which provides financial support to PATH’s Influenza Vaccine Project. JW Boslego is a former employee of Merck Research Laboratories and continues to hold stock and options in Merck & Co., Inc. D Marks holds stock in GlaxoSmithKline plc and Vical Inc. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

PATH’s Influenza Vaccine Project Team

• • Kristin Bedell, Katie Fox-Boyd, Jorge Flores, Catherine Hennings, Deborah Higgins, Kristen Lewis, David Marks, Lauren Newhouse, Justin R Ortiz, David Oxley, Sonia Pelkowski, George Robertson and John C Victor