National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium (NISEC) II

In 2018, the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium (NISEC) was created to explore vaccines in the UK. It was composed of scientists and doctors from six UK universities and Public Health England. With funding from the UK government, NISEC looked into new vaccines and immunisation schedules, including those for whooping cough and meningitis. NISEC also received additional funding from vaccine manufacturers to run clinical trials relevant to national UK vaccine policy, providing value for money. From early in 2020, the NISEC team focused their efforts on urgent COVID-19 vaccine trials. These trials enrolled about 13,000 participants at 30 UK trial sites, providing important evidence for national and international health policy makers. NISEC expertise was also used to help develop the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which is thought to have saved 6.3 million lives worldwide in 2021. NISEC is now seeking £6 million from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) to continue its work. The new network will include researchers from across the UK and will focus on projects that inform UK vaccine policy, as determined by expert advisors. These projects may include investigating new vaccines against diseases such as pneumonia and shingles, and developing template study designs that can be quickly used for vaccine trials in future pandemics. NISEC will listen to advisors who represent patients and the public, including people from different ethnic backgrounds. The team will share their findings with the experts who make decisions about vaccines in the UK (the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation or JCVI) to help them decide how to use vaccines in the best way possible. This will lead to preventing infections, reducing suffering and saving lives.