IVI and Thailand

 

Member State Relations

On 28 October 1996, the Ambassador of Thailand to the United Nations, H.E. Asda Jayanama, signed the IVI Establishment Agreement.

In June 2009, Her Royal Highness Professor Dr. Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol, President of the Chulabhorn Research Institute in Thailand, made an official visit to IVI headquarters.

IVI Funder

On 8 March 2022, the Cabinet of Thailand ratified the IVI Establishment Agreement and approved an annual core funding contribution of US$100,000 (about ฿3.25 million Thai Baht) beginning in 2023.

 

Leadership at IVI

IVI Senior Leadership: Thai leadership at IVI includes Tharinee Sakhakorn, M.Sc., Program Director, EPIC Research Affairs, and Sunee Chuasuwan, M.Sc., Head of Clinical Operations and Trial Management.

Board of Trustees: Dr. Nakorn Premsri, Director, National Vaccine Institute, serves as a Representative of States Parties to the Establishment Agreement on the IVI Board of Trustees.

Global Council: Thailand is represented on the IVI Global Council by Dr. Somlerk Jeungsmarn, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Public Health.

From 2024 to 2025, Thailand held the presidency of the IVI Global Council, represented by Dr. Opart Karnkawinpong, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Health, Kingdom of Thailand.

Scientific Advisory Group: Prof. Punnee Pitisuttithum, Professor, Vaccine Trial Centre, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, is a member of the IVI Scientific Advisory Group.

 

Ongoing Collaboration

Partnership with Thailand’s National Vaccine Institute (NVI)

On 20 January 2022, IVI and NVI signed a Definitive Agreement to strengthen the collaborative partnership between the two organizations. The agreement was signed by Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI, and Dr. Nakorn Premsri, Director of NVI.

This agreement enables IVI and NVI to explore opportunities for further collaboration and knowledge sharing in the areas of capacity building, including staff exchanges, fellowship programs, infectious disease research, epidemiology, and vaccine research and development.

Capacity-Building

Since 2024, the ASEAN Vaccine Security and Self-Reliance Human Resource Development Program has been held annually in Bangkok, co-organized by Thailand’s National Vaccine Institute and IVI. The training aims to build human-resource capacity in vaccine development and deployment across ASEAN partner countries. This training is a feature of the ASEAN Vaccine Security and Self-Reliance (AVSSR) initiative, spearheaded by Thailand in 2014 to bolster capabilities in vaccine development, thereby increasing production, access, and sustainable vaccine security in the region.

Development of a Broadly Protective SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine

The BPCOV2 project (June 2024 to March 2027) is developing a new mRNA vaccine designed to protect against SARS-CoV-2 variants and related viruses found in animals, with the long-term vision of creating a vaccine platform that offers broad protection against sarbecoviruses. The project focuses on two main objectives: first, to design vaccine formulations that instruct human cells to produce proteins mimicking the SARS-CoV-2 virus, triggering multiple layers of immune response including antibodies and T-cell immunity; and second, to achieve broad protection by incorporating genetic material from multiple virus variants, both current strains and those that may emerge in the future, enabling the vaccine to protect against a range of related viruses. This international collaboration brings together leading vaccine researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of North Carolina, the University of California, Davis in the United States, and the Chula Vaccine Research Center in Thailand.

 

Previous Collaboration

Chikungunya Vaccine Development

Initiated in 2020, this consortium between IVI and Bharat Biotech focuses on advancing the development of the inactivated chikungunya vaccine BBV87. The program included a phase II/ III clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of a two-dose regimen of BBV87 in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, and Thailand. While GCCDP concluded in 2025, Bharat Biotech leads a phase III trial in India.

COVID-19 Vaccine Development with BioNet

IVI is a member of a global consortium led by the French-Thai vaccine manufacturer BioNet, alongside Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University and the Universities of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and California, Davis in the United States, which conducted preclinical studies and clinical trials for a new COVID-19 vaccine. The program was possible with a US$200 million grant from CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

COVID vaccine Clinical and Operational Alliance (COCOA)

As part of the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical and Operational Alliance, IVI led a global Phase III trial of SKYCovione™ from 2021 to 2025, SK bioscience’s COVID-19 vaccine and Korea’s first domestically developed vaccine. Conducted in over 4,000 adults across the Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam, New Zealand, and Ukraine. IVI coordinated studies outside Korea, while SK bioscience oversaw domestic sites. Based on these results, SKYCovione™ was added to the WHO Emergency Use Listing in 2023 and received full marketing authorization from the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. The study was funded by CEPI, with additional collaboration from IVI, SK bioscience, and the Korea National Institute of Health for antibody testing.

HPV Vaccine Study

In 2018, IVI launched an HPV vaccine impact study in Thailand to measure the effectiveness of a single dose of the HPV vaccine. At the time, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended a two-dose schedule for HPV vaccines targeting girls aged 9-14 years. Generating additional evidence on single-dose effectiveness was important to inform the most cost-effective approach to HPV vaccination and national and global health policies.

The results of this impact study, along with other single-dose studies, were submitted to the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, which concluded that a single dose provides strong protection against HPV. Consequently, WHO updated its recommendation to a one or two-dose schedule for girls and young women aged 9-20.

Pneumonia Vaccine Development

In 2017 and 2018, IVI carried out a Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) country investment case study in Thailand. Funded by South Korea’s SK Chemicals, this study conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of introducing PCV vaccination in Thailand. A policymakers’ meeting was conducted in Bangkok in April 2018 to present preliminary results.

From 2007 to 2011, IVI and Thailand jointly participated in PneumoNet, a multi-country, hospital-based pneumococcal disease burden study in Asia. More than 20,000 children were enrolled in four countries in 2011. Analysis of the data from this study identified consistently high rates of pneumonia hospitalization, which helped make the case for introducing a pneumonia vaccine.

Dengue Vaccine: Research and Clinical Trials

From 2006 to 2014, IVI’s Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative (PDVI) and Dengue Vaccine Initiative (DVI) conducted wide-ranging studies on the prevalence and impact of dengue fever in Thailand. These studies revealed that dengue incidence had been severely underestimated in Thailand. With the results of these studies, IVI developed vaccine impact modeling, a strategic demand forecast, a market assessment, and an investment case to support the introduction of the dengue vaccine in Thailand.

From 2008 to 2010, PDVI supported the Faculty of Tropical Medicine of Mahidol University in its efforts to carry out the first efficacy trial of a dengue vaccine in Thailand. The phase 2b clinical trial of the Sanofi Pasteur dengue vaccine was carried out in Ratchaburi Province, and 4,000 children aged 4-12 participated in the trial. PDVI provided technical support and advice to the trial sponsor and investigators, conducted socio-behavior studies, created an advisory committee, and conducted dengue surveillance among children in Ratchaburi not involved in the trial.

Cholera Vaccine: Development and Usage

From 2009 to 2011, Thailand played a key role in the development of IVI’s Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) by hosting a phase II clinical trial in Bangkok.

In 2013, Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health sponsored a two-dose OCV campaign in the Maela refugee camp. Over 43,000 refugees received the IVI-developed OCV.

Shigella Study

From 2002 to 2005, IVI carried out its first global program, the Diseases of the Most Impoverished (DOMI) disease burden study. As part of DOMI, IVI investigated the disease burden of Shigella in the Kaeng Khoi district of Saraburi Province. Data from research revealed that Shigella imposes a heavy economic burden on both public-sector institutions and private households and identified a uniformly high demand for a vaccine against dysentery for children across study sites. The results of the Shigella study in Thailand have major implications for the design of new vaccines and will influence the development of IVI’s Shigella vaccine.

Japanese Encephalitis (JE) Study

From 2000 to 2004, IVI conducted a multi-country study in Asia to better understand the JE burden in countries where Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccines are not used or are used only to a limited extent. In collaboration with the Thai CDC and Ministry of Public Health, IVI carried out studies on the economic cost of the illness and the cost-effectiveness of vaccination. Additionally, IVI surveyed Thai policymakers to assess their perceptions of the importance of JE immunization, as well as the needs and barriers to its implementation in national health programs.

Strengthening External Quality Assurance for AMR in Asia

The Strengthening External Quality Assurance for AMR in Asia (EQAsia) project was implemented by a consortium led by the Technical University of Denmark, in partnership with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and the Veterinary Faculty at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. During its initial phase, the consortium successfully identified and mapped the coverage of external quality assurance (EQA) programs across Asia, while delivering seven rounds of EQA services along with targeted training to National Reference Laboratories and Centers of Excellence spanning One Health sectors. Building on these achievements, a second phase was launched in 2023, through which partners provided four additional EQA rounds to more than 80 laboratories and centers across the region and supported two countries in establishing national EQA systems, strengthening their capacity to independently implement One Health-oriented quality assurance programs.