The COVID-19 pandemic was a blunt and universal reminder of the health and social imperative of vaccines. While vaccines may have typically been considered a childhood rite of passage, the global health community was suddenly faced with the unprecedented challenge of inoculating not only hundreds of millions of children for routine immunizations, but of vaccinating 8 billion people and boosting them against a pandemic.
This was a monumental undertaking, and every sector of the global health ecosystem had to come together for swift, equitable, and sustainable solutions.
IVI joined forces with over 20 partners to make COVID-19 vaccines a reality for all. However, these principles ensuring the most vulnerable communities around the world are protected against infectious diseases have been at the core of IVI’s work and mission to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health.
This mission brought to market 3 WHO pre-qualified oral cholera vaccines and IVI is quickly approaching WHO PQ of a new typhoid conjugate vaccine to protect even more children against a poverty-associated disease.
As we celebrate 25 years of IVI and head into a new era of innovative vaccine research, development, and delivery, let’s look back on several defining moments in IVI history.