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E-CIRVE Accomplishments To-Date (as of February 2006)

Organization and Management:

  • Established Steering Committee, administrative structure and specific aims.
  • Organized and conducted bi-monthly Steering Committee meetings and Scientific Council meetings.
  • Recruited Barney Graham, MD, PhD, Tracy Lieu, MD, Myron Levine, MD, and Stan Plotkin, MD to serve on the External Advisory Board.
  • Obtained institutional commitment and support.
  • Recruited John Altman, PhD to be the lead for Project 1.
  • Recruited Julie Gazmararian, PhD to be the research lead for Project 2.
  • Hired Mark Scally, MPA to be the Program Director.
  • Hired Karen Pazol, PhD to be the research project coordinator for Project 2.

 Symposiums and Participation in Regulatory Developments:  

  • Held international symposium on meningococcal group B vaccine development.
  • Developing international relationships in vaccinology ( The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology – New Delhi ).
  • Participating in collaborations on immunology of infectious diseases and pathogenesis.
  • Coordinated a session on vaccine supply regulatory issues for National Vaccine Program Office; January 24-25, 2005
  • Developed options for purchase and control of influenza vaccine in the early stages of a pandemic which were presented to the National Vaccine Advisory Committee to guide its deliberations.
  • Reviewed an Emory sponsored special issue on vaccines features in the journal Health Affairs (http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/vol24/issue3/).
  • Participated in a June 2005 meeting for the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists to discuss vaccine shortages and solutions.
  • Organized the Southeastern Center for Emerging Biologic Threats (SECEBT)’s June 2005 meeting on vaccine development.
  • Organized the Southeastern Center for Emerging Biologic Threats (SECEBT)’s November 2005 meeting on pandemic influenza planning.
  • Conducted an international meeting on “Universal Vaccination – Are We Ready?” looking at the available evidence supporting such a policy, information gaps, and research needs, October 2005.
  • Chaired the ad-hoc WHO committee to look at best methods for assessing global mortality burden from measles, rotavirus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae type b.
  • Consulted on the preparation of the mandated vaccine information statements for the CDC.

 Immunization Research

  • Collaborated with the CDC-sponsored Emerging Infections Program to complete the final data analysis and manuscript preparation for a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine effectiveness study in children aged 3-59 months.
  • Conducted modeling efforts to predict the effectiveness of using pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) in small children to reduce incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease in older children and adults. Developed and prepared a model for publication that predicts a substantial decrease in morbidity among these unvaccinated populations.
  • Designed a study in collaboration with the Hope Clinic of the Emory Vaccine Center to test whether co-administration of yellow fever antibody in Immune Globulin (IG) and yellow fever vaccine results in effective reduction of yellow fever viremia without compromising host immune response. This study will help to understand safer ways of giving the yellow fever vaccine and reduce adverse events.
  • Collaborated with the Emory Transplant Center to identify a marker of immune response that is specific to influenza vaccination. This measure will be used to evaluate whether the response is similar in transplant recipients as compared to healthy donors.
  • Conducted a study to evaluate influenza vaccination policies and practices among health care workers and estimate current vaccination coverage rates. Information from this study will help guide the development of a survey to identify barriers and potential interventions to increase vaccination rates among health care workers.
  • Carrying out a survey to determine the feasibility and best practices for providing influenza vaccine to children and to correlate particular immunization practices with vaccination rates. All surveys have been distributed and follow-up calls are being conducted to increase response rates.
  • Began enrollment for a study assessing the effectiveness of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine among children aged 6-23 months in preventing hospitalizations with influenza. The study is being conducted during the 2005-6 and 2006-7 influenza seasons.
  • Developed a protocol for a high school-based case-control study evaluating the impact of the tetravalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine on meningococcal respiratory colonization. Enrollment has been postponed until Fall 2006.
  • Designed and received IRB approval for a qualitative study to evaluate the knowledge, concerns, and beliefs of key stakeholders for a change in influenza vaccination policy to include all school age children. This study will evaluate whether there is buy-in from key stakeholders and collect data on interventions that are likely to lead to high levels of implementation.
  • Completing protocol development and IRB approval for a study to evaluate the post-licensure effectiveness of a tetravalent (serogroups A, C, Y, W135) meningococcal conjugate vaccine against vaccine serogroup disease among persons aged 11-19 years.
  • Working on a protocol for Guillian-Barre Syndrome (GBS) surveillance among 11-19 year olds to further evaluate post-licensure reports of GBS occurring 2-4 weeks after immunization with the tetravalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine.