IVI and Australia

 

Australian Leadership at IVI

 

Board of Trustees

Dr. Ian David Gust, University of Melbourne (2001-2005)

Sir Gustav J.V. Nossal, Australian Academy of Science, University of Melbourne (1997-2002)

 

Scientific Advisory Group

Professor Michael F. Good, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, (2001-2006)

Dr. Ian David Gust, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, (2007-2010)

 

Ongoing IVI-Australia Collaboration

 

Typhoid in Fiji – Vaccination & Elimination (TY-FIVE) consortium: A partnership between IVI, the Fijian Ministry of Health, the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (University of Melbourne), and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, TY-FIVE will conduct a pilot vaccine introduction of Bharat Biotech’s Typbar-TCV by vaccinating the entire population of the island of Vanua Levu (population around 132,000) to try to eliminate typhoid from the Northern Island of Fiji and strengthen Fiji’s current symptomatic typhoid surveillance system. 

 

Strep A Vaccine Global Consortium (SAVAC): Established by IVI to facilitate the development of Group A Streptococcus (GAS) vaccines, SAVAC is building a Full Value of Vaccine Assessment (FVVA) for GAS vaccines, increasing the awareness of GAS vaccine development, and broadly identifying and filling R&D gaps for GAS vaccines, including advocacy, epidemiology/burden, pipeline, correlates, and funding. Australian SAVAC leadership:

  • Prof. Andrew Steer, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Prof. Jonathan Carapetis, Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia

 

Ongoing IVI Indo-Pacific Regional Programs

 

COVID-19 Vaccine Development: IVI is leading clinical trials with CEPI of SK Bioscience’s GBP510 Covid-19 vaccine candidate. Trials in six countries, including New Zealand. 

 

Typhoid Vaccine Development: IVI transferred the technology for its Vi-DT typhoid conjugate vaccine to Indonesia’s Biofarma and is supporting clinical trials of the vaccine in Indonesia. 

 

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Surveillance & Capacity Building: With support for UKAID’s Fleming Fund, IVI’s CAPTURA program is working with health authorities in 12 countries across central and southeast Asia (including Indonesia, Timor Leste, and Papua New Guinea) to collect, review, and digitize AMR surveillance data. The project also helps identify gaps in data and areas for quality improvement that can be addressed in future initiatives to strengthen surveillance capacity. The information resource generated by the project will improve awareness, advocacy, policy, and interventions needed to combat AMR and antimicrobial misuse. 

 

Previous IVI-Australia Collaboration

 

AusAID Funding: From 2000 to 2005, AusAID provided Over $230,000AUD in funding across multiple IVI programs: capacity building in China and Vietnam, the Diseases of the Most Impoverished (DOMI), and establishment of IVI’s vaccine development laboratories. 

 

SIVAC (Supporting Independent Immunization and Vaccine Advisory Committees) Program: Australia’s National Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) on Immunization trained NITAG scientists from Indonesia, Nepal, and Vietnam in support of IVI’s SIVAC program. (2011-2013)

 

Rotavirus Surveillance Capacity Building: Murdoch Children’s Research Center provided training to scientists from Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka in rotavirus detection, quality control, and quality assurance as part of IVI’s Rotavirus Program. (2007)

 

Streptococcus pneumoniae Surveillance: In collaboration with Sydney Children’s Hospital, IVI conducted surveillance studies on pneumococcus in Australia, China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. (2005-2006)