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Rethinking Vaccine Development as an Integral Part of Preparedness in the European Health Union
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 November 2020
Abstract
This opinion piece puts forward a critique of the policy and regulatory frameworks governing vaccines, understood as tools to confront pandemic and epidemic diseases (PEDs). Vaccines being the universally recognised prime method of prevention, immunisation campaigns and vaccine research and development (R&D) could reasonably be expected to feature prominently in any policy and/or strategic document addressing emerging health threats. Yet, vaccination occupies a relatively subsidiary role, with a prevalent focus on risk management mechanisms. This piece outlines the main characteristics of preparedness frameworks and looks at vaccine development in the course of PED outbreaks in the recent past, concluding that the COVID-19 pandemic calls for a paradigm shift in vaccine R&D, which should become integral to public health preparedness.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 11 , Special Issue 4: Beyond COVID-19: Towards a European Health Union , December 2020 , pp. 821 - 830
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press
Footnotes
I wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and Gatwiri M’mbijiwe for her excellent research assistance. All mistakes remain my own.
References
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