The panel included Professor Sir Andy Pollard, Professor Andrew Farlow, and Bruno Versaevel who is Professor of Economics at the emlyon business school. The panel was joined by DPhil Candidate, Dr Claire Keene, who coordinated the module.
The aim of the PBL is to give students a project where they can apply the concepts learned in this term’s sessions to tackling a global real-world challenge. The PBL requires integration of the technical knowledge, public and global health applications, and policy and ethical considerations in vaccinology. The aim is to encourage critical appraisal of evidence from diverse sources, engagement with experts from different spheres, and a deeper understanding of how the technical and public health themes of the vaccinology module influence each other in the real world.
The students have support to write up their PBL projects as a commentary piece and submit it for publication if they choose to do so.
The two student presentations were:
- Technical Challenges - you are members of an advisory group to a major global funding body. The group was tasked to critically appraise the current influenza vaccine landscape and make recommendations of where a funder should invest to improve seasonal vaccine performance while speeding development of a highly efficacious, universal influenza vaccine.
- Preparing for a Global Influenza Pandemic - you are a think tank advising the UK government. The group was tasked to set up a series of war game scenarios for a global influenza pandemic, making reasonable and justifiable assumptions on the available technologies, manufacturing processes, political climate, vaccine hesitancy, etc. at the time. They were asked to outline critical decision points and give recommendations on the priorities for a response.
The vaccinology module is intended to give students an overview of vaccines as a public health intervention that has changed the face of global health: through millions of lives saved and by stoking strong opposition to allopathic medicine. How vaccines are funded, developed and deployed has important implications for developing sound public health strategies, as well as implications for the implementation of other public health programmes. The module is taught by experts in the field including, Professor Adrian Hill, Professor Sir Andy Pollard, Professor Andrew Farlow and Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert.