Zirimenya Ludoviko, Zalwango Flavia, Owino Esther A, Karanja Henry K, Natukunda Agnes, Nkurunungi Gyaviira, Bukirwa Victoria, Kiwanuka Achilles, Chibita Monica, Mogire Reagan, Chi Primus, Webb Emily, Kaleebu Pontiano, Elliott Alison M
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Entebbe, 49, Uganda.
NIHR Open Res. 2023 Jun 27;3:35. doi: 10.3310/nihropenres.13417.1. eCollection 2023.
Vaccination is an important public health intervention, but not everyone benefits equally. Biological, social and structural factors render some communities vulnerable and unable to secure optimal health benefits from vaccination programmes. This drives health inequity and undermines wider vaccine impact by allowing the persistence of non-immune communities as foci for recurrent disease outbreaks. The NIHR Global Health Research Group on Vaccines for vulnerable people in Africa (VAnguard) aims to understand how biological, social, and structural factors interact to impair vaccine impact in vulnerable African communities.
The VAnguard project will be implemented through three thematic work packages (1-3) and four cross-cutting work packages (4-7). Work package 1 will investigate the biological drivers and mechanisms of population differences in vaccine responses. Work package 2 will support the understanding of how structural, social and biological determinants of vaccine response interrelate to determine vaccine impact. Work package 3 will synthesise data and lead analyses to develop, model and test community-based integrated strategies to optimise vaccine access, uptake and effectiveness. Work package 4 will plan and implement field investigations (community survey and qualitative studies (with support of work package 2) to explore structural, social & biological determinants impairing vaccine impact. Work package 5 will collaborate with work packages 1-4, to engage communities in designing interventions that aim to directly optimise vaccine impact through a process of co-learning and co-creation between them and the researchers. Work package 6 will build capacity for, and a culture of, consultative, collaborative multidisciplinary vaccine research in East Africa. Work package 7 will support the overall project management and governance. Following the project inception on the 1 of September 2022, project launch was held in November 2022.
Results from this project will contribute to the development of integrated strategies that will optimise vaccine benefits and drive health equity.
疫苗接种是一项重要的公共卫生干预措施，但并非每个人都能平等受益。生物、社会和结构因素使一些社区易受影响，无法从疫苗接种计划中获得最佳健康效益。这导致了健康不平等，并削弱了更广泛的疫苗影响，因为非免疫社区持续存在，成为疾病反复爆发的焦点。英国国家卫生研究院（NIHR）非洲弱势群体疫苗全球健康研究小组（VAnguard）旨在了解生物、社会和结构因素如何相互作用，损害非洲弱势群体社区的疫苗影响。
VAnguard项目将通过三个主题工作包（1-3）和四个跨领域工作包（4-7）实施。工作包1将调查疫苗反应人群差异的生物学驱动因素和机制。工作包2将有助于理解疫苗反应的结构、社会和生物学决定因素如何相互关联以确定疫苗影响。工作包3将综合数据并进行分析，以制定、建模和测试基于社区的综合策略，以优化疫苗的可及性、接种率和有效性。工作包4将规划和实施实地调查（社区调查和定性研究（在工作包2的支持下），以探索损害疫苗影响的结构、社会和生物学决定因素。工作包5将与工作包1-4合作，让社区参与设计干预措施，旨在通过他们与研究人员之间的共同学习和共同创造过程直接优化疫苗影响。工作包6将在东非建立协商、协作的多学科疫苗研究能力和文化。工作包7将支持整个项目的管理和治理。在2022年9月1日项目启动后，于2022年11月举行了项目启动仪式。
该项目的结果将有助于制定综合策略，以优化疫苗效益并推动健康公平。
