By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Child vaccination public-private partnership Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has appointed global health leader Professor Helen Rees as its Vaccine Investment Strategy (VIS) steering committee chairperson.
Rees is an expert in vaccine implementation and delivery, vaccine research and development, regulatory science and infectious disease epidemiology.
Rees is the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) RHI executive director. Wits RHI, established by Rees in 1994, is the university’s largest research institution that focuses on human immunodeficiency virus, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases and vaccines, reproductive health and climate change and health.
Further, the VIS Steering Committee guides Gavi’s evidence-based process to identify new and under-used vaccines of the highest importance to Gavi-supported countries and with the greatest need for financial support. It enables Gavi to take stock of the vaccine landscape to assess the cost, impact, value and programmatic feasibility of relevant products.
The VIS also provides partners, manufacturers and Gavi-supported countries with key information to support planning over a longer time horizon, Gavi said in a statement.
As Chair of the VIS Steering Committee, Rees will provide guidance to Gavi’s process of developing the Vaccine Investment Strategy 2024 (VIS 2024), an 18-month evidence-driven process, which will inform the Gavi Board’s final investment decisions in June 2024. VIS 2024 will evaluate new vaccines and passive immunisation products anticipated to be available by 2030, as well as potential incremental investments for the existing Gavi portfolio and recommendations on vaccine prioritisation, particularly in a post-pandemic context.
“It is a privilege to have Prof Rees lead the VIS Steering Committee. She brings wide insights, experience, expertise and passion to the Gavi mission, as the Alliance moves to take stock of the vaccine landscape for the coming years,” said Marta Tufet, the Head of Policy at Gavi. “Prof Rees and the Committee’s input, guidance and support will inform Gavi and stakeholders in planning over a longer time horizon.”
Further, Rees is a Personal Professor in the Wits Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Wits’ flagship African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise programme co-director.