The 7th Quarterly meeting of the Innovation Lab for Vaccine Delivery Research (VaxLab) was held at Duke Kunshan University on September 12-13, 2024. Attendees of this conference included representatives from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), research teams from universities and research institutions such as Peking University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Nanjing Medical University, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Duke Kunshan University, as well as experts and scholars from think tanks like the Development Research Center of the State Council and the National Health Development Research Center of the National Health Commission, and the public health team from IQVIA China. Additionally, immunization experts from the Chongqing Municipality, Jiangsu Province, and Suzhou City Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCs) were invited to attend.
Dr. Yaolin Liu, Chancellor of Duke Kunshan University, delivered the opening remark. In his speech, Dr. Liu warmly welcomed all distinguished guests and expressed gratitude to the BMGF and collaborating research institutions for their strong support of the VaxLab project. He briefly reviewed the achievements of VaxLab since its establishment in 2021 in scientific evidence generation and policy advocacy, particularly the progress and impact made in promoting vaccine equity and accessibility. Looking ahead, Dr. Liu hopes that the VaxLab will continue to increase its influence through deepened cooperation, sustained scientific innovation, and knowledge translation, ensuring the realization of the vision that everyone can receive life-saving vaccines.
Currently, VaxLab has completed 6 subprojects and has 10 ongoing subprojects. During the meeting, each subproject team shared the latest progress of their respective research projects and future work plans. Since the sixth project quarterly meeting in April 2024, a new project—”Strategies and Decision-Making Mechanisms for Expanding HPV Vaccination”—led by the Peking Union Medical College has been added.
Representatives from the VaxLab team also reviewed the main achievements in research and policy advocacy since the sixth quarterly meeting. Attendees proposed suggestions and solutions for improvement from their respective professional perspectives, helping the other project teams to refine their research plans and result analysis. Experts from provincial and municipal CDCs offered suggestions based on their insights and experiences of the frontline practice, shared the status of immunization programs’ implementation, and proposed research and technical support needs.
The brainstorming session – “Current Status and Future Development of Vaccine Delivery Research in China” was chaired by Dr. Anna Du, Senior Program Officer of the Health Innovation and Cooperation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation China Country Office. Dr. Du summarized the challenges and future opportunities in vaccine delivery research. She pointed out that in addressing complex scientific issues, it is necessary to address the bottlenecks through data and evidence. Although research teams can access large databases, effectively using the data and generating evidence for the practices remains a crucial challenge. Dr. Du also encouraged modeling teams to develop more personalized tools to improve work efficiency and optimize priority judgment. In addition, she called for attracting more stakeholders to participate in vaccine delivery research, promoting capacity building and technical support. She stated that strengthening cooperation with media, government, and academic institutions can effectively disseminate the research findings, enhance public awareness, and lay a solid foundation for future vaccine equity and accessibility.
At the end of the meeting, Professor Shenglan Tang, Director of VaxLab and Co-director of the Global Health Research Center at Duke Kunshan University, summarized the meeting. He stated that most projects have made smooth progress since the last quarterly meeting, and all sub-project teams can further solidify research analysis based on feedback from the meeting and strengthen cross-team collaboration to ensure the quality of research outputs. Next, VaxLab will actively consider the challenges and needs proposed by the local CDCs, plan subsequent new subprojects, and strengthen international cooperation by expanding VaxLab’s research in ASEAN countries.
