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Powering Vaccine R&D:
Opportunities for
Transformation

About the Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group

The Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group brings together senior leaders across many disciplines to examine some of the most challenging vaccine-related issues and drive impactful change. Members are influential, creative, out-of-the-box thinkers who vigorously probe a single topic each year and develop actionable recommendations to advance innovative ideas for the development, distribution, and use of vaccines, as well as evidence-based and cost-effective approaches to immunization.

Letter from the Presidents

May 2021

We have the honor of presenting the third annual report of the Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group, Powering Vaccine R&D: Opportunities for Transformation, at an extraordinary moment in history. COVID-19 has demonstrated as never before that an efficient, science-based system to move safe and effective vaccines through the pipeline is absolutely vital to global well-being. The big ideas presented in this volume are designed to advance that goal — not only for pandemics but also for the many other infectious diseases that threaten our health.

A stellar group of experts has gathered together to think about how best to move forward. The Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group is co-chaired by Harvey V. Fineberg, president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Shirley M. Tilghman, president emerita of the university and professor of molecular biology and public affairs at Princeton University. They are joined by an accomplished group of 22 leaders whose careers span numerous fields and disciplines. Some bring a deep well of knowledge in vaccinology; others offer insights from the sciences, public health, finance, ethics, journalism and elsewhere. Collectively, they represent the public, private, philanthropic and advocacy sectors. We owe a debt of gratitude to Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for giving us the means to bring these influencers together.

Each of us, the signatories of this letter, is grateful to the other as well. In the three years since the Vaccine Science & Policy Group began to convene, the Sabin Vaccine Institute and the Aspen Institute have proven to be natural allies. Our skill sets are complementary and synergistic.

Sabin, with its storied history of championing vaccine science and equitable worldwide access to immunization, and Aspen, with its widely recognized convening power, are partners in an enterprise we both believe can help transform global health.

As the vaccine group presents this report, we are confident that the partnership it represents will continue to influence dialogue, policy and action. The two prior reports, Accelerating the Development of a Universal Influenza Vaccine and Meeting the Challenges of Vaccination Hesitancy, endure to inform and inspire, and we believe that Powering Vaccine R&D: Opportunities for Transformation will do so as well.

Dan Porterfield
President and Chief Executive Officer
The Aspen Institute
Amy Finan
Chief Executive Officer
Sabin Vaccine Institute

 

 

As the vaccine group presents this report, we are confident that the partnership it represents will continue to influence dialogue, policy, and action.

Dan Porterfield & Amy Finan, The Sabin-Aspen Group
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