Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Congratulations to Professor Andrew Pollard who is the Winner of the Policy Engagement category in the Vice-Chancellor Innovation Awards 2020 for his work on Global policy on typhoid vaccines through research at Oxford!

© Image credit: Gates Archive/Samantha Reinders

Global policy on typhoid vaccines through research at Oxford

Typhoid affects 14 million people each year, with the highest rates in children, and causes around 150,000 deaths.

The disease, which is increasingly resistant to antibiotics, is spread through contaminated food and water in countries with lack of infrastructure but vaccines offer a potential rapid impact on this disease while definitive investment in infrastructure is awaited.

In order to accelerate vaccine introduction, the team led by Professor Andrew Pollard developed a model of human infection in Oxford in which volunteers drank a suspension of typhoid bacteria to deliberately get typhoid infection, so that they could test new vaccines. They studied the model carefully and made some important new observations about how the bacteria cause disease identified potential new approaches to diagnosis.

Professor Andrew PollardProfessor Andrew Pollard
 

They tested a new generation typhoid vaccine using the Oxford model and showed that it worked. The data from this study supported World Health Organisation (WHO) global policy recommendations on use of the vaccine for all children from 9 months to 15 years of age in high burden areas, and release of $85M funding by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) to help low income countries introduce the vaccine.

Data on disease burden is important for countries to decide whether to prioritise vaccine introduction. The team led studies in Nepal, Bangladesh and Malawi to provide burden data in field studies of 100,000 people in each country. These data were also considered by WHO in their deliberations on global policy and provided a base for large field trials which they have undertaken to evaluate implementation of typhoid vaccine funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In these trials they have vaccinated over 100,000 children against typhoid and found that the vaccine prevented 82% of infections. They also showed that the vaccine was safe, data used by WHO in their policy position paper on typhoid vaccine safety.

Vaccine roll out has begun and 10 million doses were deployed at the end of 2019 to control an outbreak of typhoid resistant to most antibiotics in Pakistan. Many countries are now planning introduction of the vaccine as global roll out begins, with the next deployments being in Zimbabwe and Liberia.

Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

About the awards

The Vice-Chancellor Innovation Awards celebrate research-led innovation that is having societal or economic impact. Building on the awards two years ago a new category of Policy Engagement has been added to those for TeamworkBuilding CapacityInspiring Leadership, and Early Career Innovator.

Winners and Highly Commended entries were selected by the Vice-Chancellor’s Innovation Awards panel chaired by Professor Chas Bountra, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation, and comprising academics from each of the four Divisions and Professional Services staff who support impact and innovation across the collegiate University

You can find out more about the Awards and all of 2020’s Winners and Highly Commended entries on the Vice-Chancellor’s Innovation Awards pages.

 

 

Similar stories

Irene Roberts delivers Ham-Wasserman Lecture

Presented at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, the award and lectureship recognises individuals from outside the United States who have made significant contributions to Haematology.

Oxford gets £122m funding for healthcare research

Health and care research in Oxford is to receive £122 million in government funding over the next five years to improve diagnosis, treatment and care for NHS patients. The funding was awarded to the two NIHR Biomedical Research Centres.

It’s not just Covid: the triple threat that could overwhelm the NHS this winter - Andrew Pollard

A severe flu outbreak or new coronavirus variant could prove catastrophic for a health service already on its knees

Novel all-in-one vaccine developed to tackle future coronavirus threats

Up to $30 million in funding has been announced by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to bring a new nanoparticle vaccine offering protection against a range of coronaviruses to clinical trial.

Fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose provides stronger immunity boost than third dose, shows UK study

COVID-19 vaccines given as fourth doses in the UK offer excellent boosting immunity protection, according to the latest results from a nationwide NIHR-supported study.

Oral paratyphoid vaccine to begin human trials

The University of Oxford in collaboration with the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSoM) has begun recruiting for a Phase I/II trial of a new paratyphoid vaccine in human volunteers in Oxford.