Dear colleague,

It gives me great pleasure to send you the Strategic Plan for 2008-2012 for the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), “Combating Infectious Diseases of the Developing World through Innovation in Vaccines and Vaccination.”

This Plan builds upon the achievements and areas of excellence of the IVI as the fastest way to achieve public health impact. The IVI, established in 1997 as an independent international organization, works exclusively on the development and introduction of vaccines to address the needs of people in developing countries. Since its establishment, the IVI has developed major research programs focusing on vaccines against enteric infections, respiratory infections and meningitis, and vector-borne viral illnesses.

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With the completion of IVI’s headquarters building on the campus of Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea, the IVI has  built in-house capabilities that cover the entire vaccine design—development—introduction continuum.

In addition, the IVI has a major focus on capacity-building in vaccine-related research, including offering the only international vaccinology course in the Asia-Pacific region, through which more than 400 professionals from 30 countries have received training in issues related to vaccine design, development, evaluation, production, regulation, introduction and policy.

During the past 11 years, the IVI has also grown significantly. It now has 40 countries and the World Health Organization as Signatories to its establishment agreement, field research programs in 28 countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, and a staff of nearly 150.

This new Strategic Plan presents the IVI’s next five-year program, building and expanding on its experience with vaccine design, development, introduction and capacity-building. I hope you will find this document informative regarding IVI’s future directions and strategies for combating infectious diseases.

I would be grateful for your thoughts on and reactions to the plan.

In closing, I would like to emphasize that the IVI is about partnerships and that we look forward to working with you to implement the objectives of this third Strategic Plan. 

Sincerely yours,

John Clemens, M.D.
Director General