Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.

Language:

Download

Go BackAdd Note

Link

Embed

Save for later

Vaccines: The Week in Review23 January 2012Center for Vaccine Ethics & Policy (CVEP)

http://centerforvaccineethicsandpolicy.wordpress.com/

A program of - Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvaniahttp://www.bioethics.upenn.edu/- The Wistar Institute Vaccine Centerhttp://www.wistar.org/vaccinecenter/default.html- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Vaccine Education Center http://www.chop.edu/service/vaccine-education-center/home.html

This weekly summary targets news and events in global vaccines ethics and policy gathered from key governmental, NGO and industry sources, key journals and other sources. This summary supports ongoinginitiatives of the Center for Vaccine Ethics & Policy, and is not intended to be exhaustive in its coverage.Vaccines: The Week in Review is now also posted in pdf form and as a set of blog posts at http://centerforvaccineethicsandpolicy.wordpress.com/ . This blog allows full-texting searching of some2,000 content items.Comments and suggestions should be directed toDavid R. Curry, MSEditor and Executive Director Center for Vaccine Ethics & Policy

david.r.curry@centerforvaccineethicsandpolicy.org

WHO said that Dr. Margaret Chan was nominated today by theWHO's Executive Board for a second term as Director-General

. Thenomination will be submitted for approval to the Sixty-fifth World HealthAssembly, scheduled to meet in Geneva from 21–26 May 2012. If confirmedby the World Health Assembly, Dr Chan's new term will begin on 1 July 2012and continue until 30 June 2017.http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2012/dg_20120118/en/index.html

Speech: Dr Margaret ChanReport by the WHO Director-General to the Executive Board at its130th Session

16 January 2012[Full text:http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2012/eb_20120116/en/index.html]

Excerpt

“…Polio eradication is also on your agenda. Authoritative bodies, like theIndependent Monitoring Board and the Strategic Advisory Group of Expertson immunization, tell us: we must stay the course.Should commitment falter, polio will come roaring back. Should our resolvewaver, this will be the most expensive failure in the history of public health.You will be considering a draft resolution that proposes declaration of thecompletion of polio eradication as a “programmatic emergency for globalpublic health.” I urge you to consider this resolution with utmost urgency.Implementation of the International Health Regulations is on your agenda,as are the framework for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness, and the

Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’sHealth.These items support my second observation. We see the success of WHOand its Member States in developing and implementing novel instruments forglobal health governance.Let me comment on two.The negotiations that culminated in the framework for Pandemic InfluenzaPreparedness were the most difficult and potentially explosive that I haveever witnessed in my 35 years in public health. But the spirit of consensusand fair play eventually won, and we got a square deal for everyone,including the pharmaceutical industry.This tells us that countries really want risks to be proactively managed. They want rules of proper conduct, with clearly assigned responsibilities, andthey want fairness, a square deal for everyone.The framework for information and accountability is part of a chain of innovative mechanisms and instruments linked to the Global Strategy forWomen’s and Children’s Health.The Commission’s sharp, smart, and lean recommendations are nowsupported by a detailed workplan for translating these recommendations intoaction. The workplan greatly facilities rapid action, especially to developsystems for vital registration, by identifying existing instruments,methodologies, guidelines, and best practices that can be used immediatelyor easily modified to fill gaps.Oversight, which includes identifying the best value-for-money approaches,has been assigned to an independent Expert Review Group. The Group wasestablished in September of last year and held its first meeting two monthslater.With these developments, public health breaks new ground by tackling along-standing need. That is: to build national capacity to generate andanalyse basic health data.Without information, at country level, we can never have accountability.Without information, we can never know what a “best” or a “wise”investment really means. Without information, we are working in the dark,pouring money into a black hole. This is totally unacceptable at a time when every dollar counts, and bothdonors and recipients must be held accountable…”

Rotary announced that, “despite a stagnant global economy,” itsclubs around the world succeeded in raising more than US$200million in new funding for polio eradication

. The fundraising milestonewas reached in response to a US$355 million challenge grant from the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation. All funds have been earmarked to support polioimmunization activities in affected countries. Rotary Foundation Trustee JohnF. Germ noted, "We'll celebrate this milestone, but it doesn't mean that we'llstop raising money or spreading the word about polio eradication. We can'tstop until our entire world is certified as polio free." Jeff Raikes, CEO of theGates Foundation, said, "In recognition of Rotary's great work, and to inspireRotarians in the future, the foundation is committing an additional $50 million

to extend our partnership. Rotary started the global fight against polio, andcontinues to set the tone for private fundraising, grassroots engagement andmaintaining polio at the top of the agenda with key policy makers."http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rotary-clubs-worldwide-meet-200-million-fundraising-challenge-for-polio-eradication-137526003.html

The Sabin Vaccine Institute announced the start of a Phase 1clinical trial of its Na-GST-1 antigen, a candidate for the first humanhookworm vaccine

. The trial is described as a major milestone for thevaccine product development partnership (PDP) headquartered at Sabin. Thistrial advances Sabin’s goal “to develop a safe, efficacious and low-costvaccine to reduce the global burden of human hookworm, which infectsnearly 600 million people worldwide.” The trial is being conducted in Brazil,where the burden of human hookworm infection is high in endemic areas.Peter Hotez, M.D., Ph.D., president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and directorof the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine,commented, “This vaccine trial is monumental, not just for us, but also forthe children living in poverty who bear the burden of hookworm infection.After more than 10 years of research and development work and with thehelp of Sabin’s PDP partners, especially our partners in Brazil, we are aboutto show that it’s possible to produce a vaccine candidate using a relativelylow-cost model. We are filling a gap to produce a vaccine forunderrepresented populations, where no traditional commercial marketcurrently exists.”http://www.sabin.org/news-resources/releases/2012/01/19/candidate-first-human-hookworm-vaccine-enters-phase-1-clinical-tr

WHO Global Alert and Response (GAR): Disease Outbreak News

Most recent news items:

20 January 2012 Avian influenza – situation in Viet Nam19 January 2012 Avian influenza – situation in Indonesia - update19 January 2012 Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update18 January 2012 Avian influenza – situation in Cambodia – updatehttp://www.who.int/csr/don/en/index.html

GAVI said that following separate investigations into the misuse of GAVI funding in Cameroon and Niger, both Ministries of Health “havecooperated fully and confirmed their commitment to take allnecessary measures, including the reimbursement of misused