Development of a comprehensive vaccine research agenda for BC through multi-faceted collaboration

Research co-lead: 

Research user co-lead:

  • Alastair McAlpine
    BC Children's Hospital, Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children

Team members: 

  • Dr. Monika Naus
    BC Centre for Disease Control, University of British Columbia 
  • Dr. Tom Blydt-Hansen
    BC Children's Hospsital, University of British Columbia
  • Dr. Al-Ghaithi
  • Dr. Bonnie Henry
    Provincie of BC
  • Dr. Sally Lawrence
    BC Children's Hospital
  • Dr. Kyla Hildebrand
    BC Children's Hospsital
  • Dr. Lori Tucker
    BC Children's Hospsital

Vaccine research projects have traditionally been designed by researchers with/without policymakers or doctors and without public involvement – the very people we are trying to protect from serious infections. In this project we will bring together groups of people with interest and expertise in vaccine research.

Our goal is to develop a plan for future vaccine research projects which is relevant to everyone – researchers, the public, public health and government officials who decide immunization programs and doctors. We will include trainees to ensure we are leaving the next generation in safe hands. We will first arrange a meeting of people from these different groups to discuss vaccine research priorities. We will then carry out a survey to include opinions from those who could not be included in the meeting.

Finally, we will bring the results of the survey to a final meeting where we would like to end up with at least 2-3 projects which address the identified BC vaccine research priorities – we will then try to obtain funding for these projects. This process will create a new group of people who we hope will work together for many years to come and make sure that vaccine research in BC remains relevant for everyone.