HIC-Vac Network additional funding

Vaccines are amongst the most practical and cost-effective ways of mitigating the impact of infectious disease, especially in LMIC/resource-poor settings. Although they already prevent an enormous number of serious and lethal infections, new or improved vaccines are needed. Animal studies are of limited value and human field trials are both expensive and prone to failure. Human infection challenge (HIC) is an excellent way to expedite vaccine development, enabling vaccines to be tested at reduced cost while providing abundant information about disease pathogenesis and mechanisms of protection. Going back to the time of Edward Jenner, the UK has had a strong tradition of HIC and continues to have a relatively supportive legal, regulatory, ethical and reputational environment. Our network will draw upon the extensive HIC experience of the UK's many research groups using pathogens such as SARS-CoV2, RSV, influenza, rhinovirus, typhoid/paratyphoid, malaria, Neisseria, pertussis, pneumococcus, BCG, leishmania and hookworm. It will draw together our collective experience and share best practice, supporting the development of new research initiatives in testing vaccine safety and efficacy. The network will bring in new investigators and will provide resources to promote the ethical, legally compliant and safe use of HIC. By distributing pump-priming funds, we will catalyse areas of study that extend the use of HIC, enabling substantial grant applications to be made. Most importantly, it will allow comparison of vaccine effects in UK volunteers with those in countries such as Malawi, India, Vietnam and Kenya. The network will work with commercial partners to promote the development and use of HIC in vaccine development, communicating the advantages of HIC to regulators, policy-makers and the public. Our network will thereby keep the UK at the forefront of global vaccine research.