International Vaccine Institute

We live in an extraordinarily exciting era in which the fruits of biotechnology offer the prospect of new vaccines against diseases for which no previous vaccines existed and of vastly improved versions of existing vaccines. While this revolution in vaccinology provides breathtaking prospects for disease prevention, it is sobering to note that many vaccines that are routine public-health tools for the industrialized world are not used in programs for the poor in the developing world, and that the discovery of vaccines against diseases that primarily afflict the developing world has been painfully slow due to a lack of economic incentives. The International Vaccine Institute (IVI), located in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, was established to assist efforts to close the gap between vaccines for the developing world versus the industrialized world by conducting research and delivering technical assistance. The IVI is the world's only international research organization devoted solely to bringing new vaccines to the poor populations of the developing world. To date, 38 countries and the WHO have signed the IVI Establishment Agreement. The work and the growth of the IVI is part of a larger revolution in public-sector commitment to close the gap between vaccines for the rich and the poor. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) has been extraordinarily successful in mobilizing new support for the purchase and deployment of needed vaccines in the public-health programs of developing countries and has recently launched support for research on new vaccines and vaccine technologies. In addition, various organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States National Institutes of Health are committing greatly increased resources for vaccine research and development. There have been major changes in the vaccine industry both in developed and developing countries. With respect to the latter, an ongoing story of great import is the astonishing evolution of many producers in developing countries. During the years since the IVI was established in 1997, the Institute has become an important partner in global efforts to develop and deploy new vaccines for the poor. It has launched major programs of field research on new vaccines against diarrheal, respiratory, and flavivirus infections in 21 countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. It has also provided technical assistance in vaccine production, regulation, and evaluation to professionals in about 30 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The IVI's growth has been made possible by generous support from an increasing number of donors. The Republic of Korea has played a pivotal role in this respect, providing a portion of the IVI's operating budget, as well as a new headquarters building with state-of-the-art laboratories. The recent completion of this beautiful building, located on the campus of Seoul National University, has allowed the Institute to launch an exciting new laboratory sciences program that will greatly increase the IVI's ability to contribute to the enterprise of bringing vaccines to developing countries. In closing, I would like to acknowledge the importance to our programs of the collaboration of many institutions and individuals, from both the private and public sectors and from both the industrialized and developing worlds. And I would like to thank especially the scientists, public-health officials, and other collaborators in developing countries who have allowed us to join with them in their work to reduce morbidity and mortality in their countries.