A European platform for the assessment of the benefits and risks of vaccines

The collaboration between the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave light to an international project aimed to develop a European framework for the assessment of benefits and risks of vaccines. The project, named ADVANCE (Accelerated development of vaccine benefit-risk collaboration in Europe), will review, develop and test methods and guidelines that should help regulators and public health authorities to take fast and informed decisions regarding vaccination strategies.

It will also identify and profile data sources that could prove useful to rapidly spread information about diseases and vaccines, and analyze different age groups and vaccination scenarios in order to cover the most common situations. All these tasks will constitute an efficient support for healthcare institutions not only to better react to outbreaks but also to meliorate management and decisions regarding vaccination strategies, and improve public perception and confidence towards preventive measures, including vaccines.

The feasibility of such a project in the European contest has already been demonstrated by pilot studies. Several partners have been involved, including the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), as well as national public health and regulatory bodies, academic experts, vaccine manufacturers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).