Intermediate/Advanced Topics in Vaccine Epidemiology

Course Aim
Background
As reinforced by the current COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines are key tools for global public health. Increasingly, pharmacoepidemiological studies are providing critical evidence needed for risk-benefit assessment to inform immunization policy, both for mature immunization programs and for low-and middle-income countries for which innovative vaccines against challenging diseases (e.g., dengue, Ebola, malaria) are under development.

The annual ICPE has had vaccine-specific sessions for >15 years and ISPE has had a Vaccine Special Interest Group (VAXSIG) since 2014. One of the VAXSIG goals is to offer educational activities on vaccine-related epidemiology topics, in collaboration with the ISPE Education Committee. The VAXSIG pre-conference course has been offered since the 2015 ICPE. The 2022 course will have a COVID-19 vaccine theme, but remain inclusive of other vaccines. It will include topics on methods, vaccine safety, and vaccine effectiveness. The course is being planned as a live session.

Content
This course will consist of two major components:
--Listening to six lectures on selected topics in vaccine pharmacoepidemiology (~30 minutes/lecture)
--Participating in a panel discussion and Q&A with course faculty (~40 minutes)
--There may also be a few course pre-reads

Requisites Statement
Intermediate to advanced level assumes knowledge of basic epidemiologic concepts and some familiarity of the vaccine landscape. Target audience will be ICPE attendees interested in gaining an understanding of current approaches in vaccine safety and comparative effectiveness, with applications to special populations (e.g., pregnant women). While examples will be drawn from COVID-19 vaccines, key examples and learnings from other vaccines will also be presented.

Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:
--Explain the need for vaccine safety, effectiveness, and surveillance studies
--Understand key concepts related to passive and active surveillance in the vaccine field
--Understand challenges and approaches to addressing bias in vaccine safety and effectiveness studies
--Appreciate COVID-19 vaccine development, safety considerations, monitoring plans, and recommendations
--Understand key concepts and methodological issues in epidemiological studies of vaccination during pregnancy

Syllabus Outline
Lectures (lecturers and presentation titles are forthcoming)
--Overview (to include COVID-19 vaccines)
--Methods (Effectiveness and/or Safety with examples for COVID-19 vaccines)
--Vaccine Safety (COVID-19 vaccines)
--Vaccine Safety during pregnancy (COVID-19 vaccines)
--Vaccine Effectiveness (to include COVID-19 vaccines)

Panel discussion and Q&A
· Moderators: Cathy Panozzo, PhD, MPH and Jen Gerber, PhD, MSc

Q&A and discussion with course faculty