IVI in the Media

South China Morning Post | The latest coronavirus boosters target Omicron. Are they safe and effective?

Financial News | IVI Director General Jerome Kim: ‘Bill Gates a strong advocate of IVI’

South China Morning Post | Scientists urge people to take second Covid vaccine booster if offered as Omicron continues to spread

Financial Times | Unvaccinated and unprepared, North Korea faces Covid catastrophe

Chosun Ilbo | Jerome Kim, Director General of International Vaccine Institute, named a distinguished professor at Seoul National University

Financial Times | South Korea downgrades Covid to a ‘Class 2’ disease and removes restrictions

South China Morning Post | China was the world’s biggest Covid-19 vaccine exporter. Not any more

The Wall Street Journal | Despite High Covid-19 Case Counts, Asian Nations Learn to Live With the Virus

Barron’s | China Eases Some Covid Testing Rules. It’s a Targeted Approach to Reduce Impact on the Economy.

CNBC | We need to treat Covid as an endemic pathogen and update vaccines: International Vaccine Institute

Financial Times | Beijing digs in to avoid repeating Hong Kong’s Covid mistakes

The Telegraph | Why China and Hong Kong face a devastating new Covid wave

CGTN | Why is China seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases?

Financial Times | Shanghai teeters on the brink of Covid lockdown

ADB Insight | Year of the Vaccine: The Next Steps for Asia and the Pacific to Combat COVID-19

Fortune | Will we all need fourth COVID vaccine booster shots?

The Telegraph | South Korea abandons its successful test and trace system as omicron cases surge

South China Morning Post | Can China’s home-grown mRNA Covid-19 vaccine pass its final tests?

The Guardian | Cuba leads the world in vaccinating children as young as two against Covid

The Telegraph | Vaccine hesitancy among Taiwan’s elderly mars its pandemic performance and prevents reopening

Director General Jerome Kim on The Alex Salmond Show

South China Morning Post | Which vaccines stop Omicron? Search for data moves from labs to real world

CNBC | 2022 will be the ‘year of vaccination,’ says director of vaccine institute

South China Morning Post | As Omicron upends Covid-19 vaccine targets, what will the future look like?

South China Morning Post | Omicron and the Winter Olympics – is China’s zero-Covid strategy up to the challenges?

CBS Mornings | With Omicron on its doorstep, countries in Asia are closing up

National Geographic | Omicron is dodging the immune system—but boosters show promising signs

Khaleej Times | Covid: 96% of people in low-income nations have yet to receive first vaccine dose, says expert

Voice of America | South Korea Showed How to Contain COVID, Now It Will Try to Live With It

China Daily | Experts say countries should remain cautious about reopening borders

South China Morning Post | Next Covid-19 test? Diagnostic blind spots stir visions of bleak midwinter

South China Morning Post | US-China coronavirus vaccine diplomacy heats up but can donations sway allegiances?

The New York Times | How Asia, Once a Vaccination Laggard, Is Revving Up Inoculations

South China Morning Post | Coronavirus: as rich countries turn to big-name booster shots from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, the poor are left with lesser-known rivals like Abdala, Soberana 2

South China Morning Post | Coronavirus: China seeks to develop next-gen vaccines amid trial complications

South China Morning Post | Can China stay ahead as a leading exporter of Covid-19 vaccines?

Maeil Business Newspaper | All music is beautiful in its own way, but Violinist Sang Hee Lee’s music shines a special light

Nature | Six months of COVID vaccines: what 1.7 billion doses have taught scientists

Asian Boss | We Asked Top Vaccine Expert About COVID Vaccine Problems

Bloomberg | Consequences of ‘Huge’ Global Gap in Vaccinations

EIU Perspectives | What does Denmark’s permanent suspension of both the AstraZeneca and Janssen covid-19 vaccines mean for other countries?

Asia Times | Vaccinations in a race against viral variants

Nature | Why COVID vaccines are so difficult to compare

DEVEX | Opinion: COVAX — too big, and too important, to fail

CNN | “Our response needs to be clear, strong, and unified”

South China Morning Post | Coronavirus vaccines will save 2021? Not so fast, here’s what the experts think

Bloomberg | Will the Covid-19 Vaccines Be Effective and Safe?

Asian Boss | Update On COVID-19 Vaccine Price & Schedule From A Leading Vaccine Expert

The Telegraph | ‘If you are not prepared, the virus has found every weakness’: How countries in Asia tamed Covid-19

CGTN | ‘The vaccine itself is not the silver bullet,’ says International Vaccine Institute

Devex | Q&A: Why Jerome Kim is ‘hopeful’ but cautious about distributing a COVID-19 vaccine

Maeil Business Newspaper | IVI Director General Jerome Kim Shares His Thoughts on Resurgence of COVID-19 Outbreaks in S. Korea

Chosun Ilbo | IVI Director General Jerome Kim Shares His Thoughts on Equitable Access of COVID-19 Vaccines

Channel News Asia | On a fast track like never before: The COVID-19 vaccine effort and 5 vital questions

The Economist’s Future of Healthcare Insight Hour | Vaccine development: A race to the finish line

Devex | Q&A: Is COVID-19 helping or hindering progress toward an HIV vaccine?

TED | The trials, tribulations and timeline of a COVID-19 vaccine

Wired Korea | The End of World War C: Peace without Victory?

Asian Boss | World’s Leading Vaccine Expert Fact-Checks COVID-19 Vaccine Conspiracy

Development Today | Why Sweden funds a vaccine institute in Korea and not Oslo-based CEPI

CNBC | Parts of Asia that relaxed restrictions without a resurgence in coronavirus cases did these three things

The Korea Herald | [Herald Interview] ‘Making vaccines accessible is biggest COVID-19 challenge’

CGTN: The Agenda with Stephen Cole | Speed of vaccine trials is ‘unprecedented’

Asian Boss | We Asked The World’s Leading Vaccine Expert About COVID-19 Vaccine

The Guardian | Test, trace, contain: how South Korea flattened its coronavirus curve

BBC World Service: The Inquiry | How do we come out of the lockdown? (13:00)

ANC 24/7 | Int’l Vaccine Institute: 12-18 months reasonable timetable for development of Covid-19 vaccine

Seeker | How Fast Can We Make a Coronavirus Vaccine?

Education City Speaker Series: Flattening the Curve – Global Responses to COVID-19

Wion News | About 70% of vaccines used around the world are made in India: S Korean expert Dr Jerome Kim

South China Morning Post | How long will a coronavirus vaccine take? A Q&A with Jerome Kim, head of the International Vaccine Institute

BBC World News | Jerome Kim: Vaccines are the long-term solution to the pandemic

The Korea Times | Developing vaccine against COVID-19

TRT: Bigger than Five | COVID-19: The World Reacts

South Korea’s fight against coronavirus (CBS News)

NDTV | Top South Korea Doctor On Why He Thinks Coronavirus Is Not A ‘Chinese Virus’

RTE | What South Korea can teach Ireland about fighting Covid-19

Physical distancing should last months, not weeks, says epidemiologist (Yahoo News Canada)

Development of vaccine requires massive investment… international cooperation is needed (Korea Economic Daily)

COVID-19 Pandemic (Arirang TV, 22:50~46:00)

By then, we’ll have a vaccine on our side (Hankyoreh—Korean)

Coronavirus Pandemic: International Vaccine Institute director on how long it will take to develop vaccine (CGTN)

Testing times: Why South Korea’s COVID-19 strategy is working (Al Jazeera English)

Genexine seeks to compress the vaccine timeline

Genexine, Binex to develop COVID-19 vaccine (Korea Biomedical Review)

Genexine, Binex to co-develop coronavirus vaccine GX-19 (Korea Herald)

How close are we to a COVID-19 vaccine? Jerome H. Kim from International Vaccine Institute (Arirang News)

COVID-19 vaccine, drugs on fast track for development: IVI chief (Yonhap News)

Inside the race to find a coronavirus vaccine (Devex)

Chinese students keen for turnaround (China Daily)

China Daily | S. Korea can try out makeshift hospitals, experts say

Director General Jerome Kim for Phoenix TV

Speed and accuracy vital for COVID-19 test kits (Arirang News)

2020 COVID-19 Live Updates: Jerome Kim for tbs eFM

Jerome Kim for KBS WORLD Radio, Korea24 on the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea

Korea should join efforts in vaccine development to prevent pandemics (JoongAng Ilbo)

Future global health threats

IVI: COVID-19 could linger (Korean)

Jerome Kim for Korea, Factual: “Hong Kong’s handling of COVID-19 outbreak & Prospects of vaccine development”

Concerns about the spread of COVID-19: When will a vaccine be developed? When can we expect the “Super Vaccine”?

Al Jazeera English | Scientists call for global cooperation over coronavirus

When will COVID-19 vaccine be commercialized…And “super vaccine”? (Korean)

Global push to find vaccine against devastating bug growing

IVI receives $15.7 million to conduct Ph III trials of typhoid vaccine

Korean vaccines expanding global territory

Neglected Victims of Neglected Diseases

Let’s build a common defense against epidemics

Vaccine investment brings 16-fold return… partnering with Bill Gates

World must join forces to prevent infectious diseases

IVI editorial in The Korea Herald advocates for Korean leadership for global health

×

Finding cures for world poor is IVI's key task

Author
Master
Date
2012-06-10 00:00
Views
4969
   
 
    Finding cures for world poor is IVI's key task



The Korea Herald,


July 19, 2005


With an array of scientists from 17 countries, the Seoul-based International Vaccine Institute works round the clock trying to ensure the world has vaccines to fight diseases, particularly in poorer countries.

"Vaccines were responsible for eradicating small pox. Vaccines will be necessary to protect populations in the area of bio-defense now that small pox has reared its ugly head in the form of bio-terrorism. Vaccines are in the process of eradicating polio but that is a tough fight," said Director General John Clemens at IVI's headquarters on the grounds of Seoul National University.

"Fundamentally, vaccines are the most cost effective tools for preventing deaths and disability in developing countries."

At present, IVI is the only international research organization in the world devoted exclusively to researching new vaccines for the world's poor. Another unique feature of IVI is that it's currently the only international organization hosted by South Korea.

Some 90 percent of the deaths worldwide from infectious diseases occurred in the world's poorest countries, with the remaining 10 percent in the world's rich countries, according to IVI research.

"A major item in our agenda for the third world is to reduce this gap in infectious disease mortality between the rich and the poor," said Clemens.

"Corresponding to this gap in mortality there is also a gap in vaccines. Major vaccine producers have very little incentive to develop new vaccines that protect against the diseases that affect the poor and not the rich.

"A very sad observation is that the gap in vaccines between rich and poor also results from the fact that we have many licensed vaccines against diseases that are rampant in developing countries.

"These are licensed vaccines available to people in rich countries, available to travelers and tourists from rich countries traveling to poor countries that are not being used in developing countries."



 

In closing the gap between rich and poor, the IVI has two challenges.

"Firstly, to develop new vaccines against diseases causing millions of deaths every year in the developing world. But also to deploy and use the available vaccines that are sadly only being used in rich countries but are not seeing the light of day in poor countries," said Clemens, whose job carries ambassadorial status.

Closing the gap

In narrowing the gap for the near future "we conduct research that focuses on using the vaccines we already have in developing countries for the poor."

This research on existing new generation vaccines provides evidence to address policy uncertainties about introducing existing vaccines into developing countries with limited resources.

"This research addresses questions like which disease to vaccinate against if you have a very limited health budget in a developing country," he said. "There might be questions about vaccine safety and impact so we conduct vaccine trials on humans."

Introducing vaccines

The IVI's is also concerned with how to introduce these vaccines. With only about 100 people right now, IVI has to make strategic decisions regarding what diseases it needs to work on first. "We work on vaccines against diarrhea. The sad fact is that 3 million kids die each year of diarrhea in developing countries. It's a huge public health problem that needs to be addressed.

"Secondly, we work on vaccines against bacterial causes of pneumonia and meningitis that cause about 1.5 million deaths per year in poor countries. And thirdly we work on certain mosquito born diseases like Japanese encephalitis which used to be a major disease in Korea as well as dengue fever, which causes catastrophic outbreaks."

The second strategy beyond translational research is making affordable vaccines available by working with the manufacturers.

Clemens said that IVI works with both international manufacturers as well as local manufacturers. "Increasingly, local manufacturers in Asia and Latin America in particular are emerging as important producers of vaccines against diseases that exclusively affect developing countries."

IVI began as a seed project of the United Nations Development Program. In the early 1990s, the UNDP thought there was a need for a basic research organization devoted to the cause of new vaccines for the world's poorest children.

The UNDP hosted a contest in the Asia-Pacific region for the right to host this institute, and Korea won the international competition.

In 1997 IVI became an independent international organization under the Vienna Convention and is autonomous and independent. It is governed by a board of trustees, most of whom are chosen in their individual capacities. Currently 35 countries together with the World Health Organization have signed IVI's charter.

(yoav@heraldm.com)

By Yoav Cerralbo