AIDSWEEKLY Plus, Monday, 22 September 1997
Daniel J. DeNoon, Senior Editor
A new group intends to focus and expedite vaccine research and development on a worldwide basis.
"We expect to launch a longstanding organization that can sustain major efforts in this exciting field," said U.S. National Cancer Institute researcher Peter Nara, chair of the newly formed International Society for Vaccines (ISV). "We are jump-starting the vaccine era."
Nara spoke in the opening address to the first annual International Society for Vaccines Symposium on Vaccinology, held September 8-11, 1997, in Leesburg, Virginia.
Nara said that the ISV intends to link the vaccine activities of all medical, biological, and vaccination organizations. To begin this effort, the ISV is in the process of creating a searchable Internet database with three main elements:
* A literature catalog intended to serve as the central information resource for all vaccine literature worldwide. The ISV intends to create a library for this literature at its headquarters in Manassas, Virginia.
* A detailed directory of human resources that will enable people interested in specific areas of vaccine research to find other workers with specialties or interests in the field.
* A centralized, crosslinked database of all meetings of interest to vaccine researchers.
Nara said that the U.S. National Vaccine Program recently endorsed the ISV effort. He said that in the spring of 1988, the ISV will organize the first multiagency vaccine meeting to focus the efforts of U.S. groups such as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
However, Nara stressed his belief that the ISV must remain independent of government. He called for private-sector support of ISV efforts to provide "a more holistic approach to vaccinology."
"We have a number of things we want to do that need a little more grease and oil to get off the ground," he said. "There are big challenges, and we need money to meet these challenges. Without support we will continue to piecemeal this thing."
The ISV arose from talks organized in 1994 by a small group of researchers led by the late Jonas Salk and including Nara; Raymond Spier, editor of the journal Vaccine; and Rajesh Gupta of the Massachusetts Public Health Department.
Information on ISV membership and programs is available from the Society at 10210 Leatherleaf Ct., Manassas, Virginia 20111-4245. Telephone: (703) 257-0936; Fax: (703) 257-0213.
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