Who would have thought? Within one year of our new mission and partnership program, the Brighton Collaboration has become an open platform for trusted and transparent vaccine safety research – far beyond standardization. 2010 was the year of confirming the validity of innovative methods, standards, and tools, while addressing emerging vaccine safety challenges at the highest scientific level together with multiple partners worldwide.

 

It is impressive how Brighton Collaboration products are valued, endorsed, and used now. Last year, 651 professionals have accessed our new online vaccine safety resources. Over 450 scientific publications reference Brighton Collaboration standards and methods and there is hardly any vaccine safety presentation at international scientific meetings without referring to the Collaboration - as if it was a quality label. This is a major tribute to the work of hundreds of Brighton Collaboration volunteers during the last 10 years.

 

Being trusted by the scientific community is one of the greatest awards for a research network. It is our mandate to maintain this trust in methodological stringency and translate it into evidence based vaccine safety information. Last year, our new online collaboration platform has served 426 active partners to create and implement multiple vaccine safety projects in our newly structured areas of activity: Standards, Data Linkage, Mechanistic Studies, Capacity Building, and Communication.

 

When the European Medicines Agency (EMA) needed safety information on pandemic influenza vaccines, a European Consortium initiated by the European Centers of Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) could provide important data for regulatory decision-making. Our Foundation led this Consortium and harmonized the work with simultaneous global efforts. We will continue building a global resource of immunization outcome data made available for public health decision makers and the populations they serve.

 

Documenting the safety profile of effective vaccines against poverty related and neglected tropical diseases developed and distributed in Low and Low-middle Income Countries (LMIC) is essential. Partnering with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) we set out to addressing this task. The Brighton Foundation is committed to leverage the Collaboration’s global capacity to help provide children and adults in LMIC with safe and effective vaccines.

 

We are only starting to utilize the Collaboration’s technical and scientific resources. 2010 has re-emphasized the Foundation’s success of bringing together scientists and resources to deliver reliable standards, unprecedented infrastructure and tangible results of direct public health relevance. In 2011, we will continue breaking new scientific grounds and strive for a comprehensive understanding of the safety of vaccines given to the global communities we come from and we work for.