The Science and Policy of COVID-19 Vaccine Development: Experience of the Global South, 29 July 2021

By July 26, 2021 July 26, 2021 Events

  • When: 29 July 2021, 8AM (New York time) | 8PM (Kuala Lumpur time)
  • Registration: To register for this event, please click here.

On 29 July 2021, the UNESCO’s International Science, Technology and Innovation Centre for South-South Cooperation (ISTIC) is partnering with the African Science, Technology and Policy Institute (ASTePI) and the network of R&D and Postgraduate Programmes in the Basic Sciences in the Caribbean, (CARISCIENCE) for a webinar on “The Science and Policy of Covid-19 Vaccine Development: Experience of the Global South“.

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about changes in medical science that saw the rapid development of different vaccines for this disease, which have proven to be effective. Following the extraordinarily rapid development of COVID‑19 vaccines, the largest-ever global vaccination drive is well under way to create herd immunity and maximize the number of lives that can be saved and curb COVID-19. Many countries in different parts of the globe are rolling out COVID-19 vaccines. There is an apparent mismatch between the rapid vaccine development and the development of policies (national, regional, international) that would enable effective global vaccination of the ongoing programmes. Major risks and challenges are emerging particularly in the global south where the inequitable and uneven distribution of vaccines is more visible.

Objectives

The Webinar will be discussing the science advances that brought about the rapid development of the Covid-19 vaccines and the lack of policies to roll out the vaccination programmes, with a special focus on the experience of the Global South (African, Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions). The speakers will be touching on the issues, challenges and gaps, and share the regional experiences and make some recommendations of how this can be done better.

It is hoped that the sharing of the experiences of the Global South countries in the fight against the pandemic especially on the science and policy of vaccine development, it will pave the way for collaborative efforts to address the gaps.

Agenda

Moderator: Professor Javed Iqbal, Adjunct Professor, La Trobe University, Australia; Co-founder and Director, Peptomedica Biotech, Melbourne, Australia

Speakers

  • Dr. Masita Aria, Centre Head & Consultant Pathologist, Institute for Medical Research, National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health of Malaysia
  • Professor J. Peter Figueroa; Professor of Public Health, Epidemiology and HIV/AIDS, University of West Indies, Jamaica; Member of WHO Working Group of COVID-19 Vaccines and UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel
  • Professor Oyewale Tomori, Advisor to WHO-AFRO Regional Director on COVID-19 Laboratory Planning and Quality Monitoring; Chairman of the Nigeria Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Health Sector Response, Nigeria
  • Professor Javier Carvajal Barriga, Principal Professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador; Co-principal Investigator on COVID-19 Specific Program National Institutes of Health, United States of America