The Full Value of Vaccine Assessments Concept-Current Opportunities and Recommendations.

For vaccine development and adoption decisions, the 'Full Value of Vaccine Assessment' (FVVA) framework has been proposed by the WHO to expand the range of evidence available to support the prioritization of candidate vaccines for investment and eventual uptake by low- and middle-income countries. Recent applications of the FVVA framework have already shown benefits. Building on the success of these applications, we see important new opportunities to maximize the future utility of FVVAs to country and global stakeholders and provide a proof-of-concept for analyses in other areas of disease control and prevention.

Facilitating the development of urgently required combination vaccines.

The essence of a vaccine lies in its ability to elicit a set of immune responses specifically directed at a particular pathogen. Accordingly, vaccines were historically designed, developed, registered, recommended, procured, and administered as monopathogen formulations. Nonetheless, the control and elimination of an astonishing number of diseases was realised only after several once-separate vaccines were provided as combinations.

Funding and COVID-19 research in Africa: two years on, are the research needs of Africa being met?

Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused significantly lower reported mortalities on the African continent as compared to other regions. Yet, many countries on the continent are still contending with the devastating economic, social and indirect health impacts. African researchers and policy makers have identified research priority areas which take cognisance of the unique research needs of African countries.

Challenges and opportunities in developing a Shigella-containing combination vaccine for children in low- and middle-income countries: Report of an expert convening.

The gram-negative bacterium Shigella is an enteric pathogen responsible for significant morbidity and mortality due primarily to severe diarrhea and dysentery, mainly among children younger than five years of age living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Long considered a priority target for vaccine development, recent scientific advances have led to a number of promising Shigella vaccine candidates now entering advanced stages of clinical testing. Yet, there is no guarantee that even a highly efficacious Shigella vaccine will be recommended, prioritized, purchased, and widely adopted-especially if it requires additional doses in the immunization schedule and/or visits within the immunization program.

Funding and COVID-19 research priorities - are the research needs for Africa being met?

: Emerging data from Africa indicates remarkably low numbers of reported COVID-19 deaths despite high levels of disease transmission. However, evolution of these trends as the pandemic progresses remains unknown. More certain are the devastating long-term impacts of the pandemic on health and development evident globally.

Rethinking research processes to strengthen co-production in low and middle income countries.

Co-production needs to become an integral part of the training and funding of researchers to ensure research meets everyone’s needs, argue

Localisation and timing of expression of putative Plasmodium berghei rhoptry proteins in merozoites and sporozoites.

Invasive forms of apicomplexan parasites contain secretory organelles (which may include micronemes, rhoptries or dense granules), the contents of which mediate invasion of host cells. Only few rhoptry proteins have been identified in Plasmodium and then only in merozoites and none in the sporozoite or ookinete. Epitope-tagged proteins (with either green fluorescent protein or C-MYC) were used to analyse the expression and cellular localisation of a known Plasmodium rhoptry protein (RAP2/3) and putative homologues of two Toxoplasma rhoptry proteins (rhoptry neck protein 2, RON2 and putative rhoptry protein 2, PRP2) at different stages across the life cycle.