Mission Report: Vaccinology for Clinical and Public Health Practice in Indonesia: Policy Conference and Workshop

Executive Summary

LSHTM, SSHSPH NUS, and HITAP conducted the Vaccinology for Clinical and Public Health policy conference and short course, collaborating with UNPAD as the local host. The course was conducted from 15 – 18 May 2023 in Bandung, Indonesia, and was co-funded by the Access and Delivery Partnership (ADP), Biofarma, and UNPAD.

The course had two parts: a policy conference and a short course. The policy conference on 15 May 2023 discussed some of the most pressing issues around vaccinology in Indonesia, including setting priorities of new vaccines, the role of technology, improving resource capacity and communicating evidence, and creating sustainable vaccination programs. The policy conference invited renowned local and international experts in their fields. There was a total of 75 participants; the majority came from Indonesia, and some were from the Philippines, Laos, and Vietnam.

The short course was part of a regular vaccinology short course organised since 2013. It was held for three days from 16 – 18 May 2023. The short course covered technical topics from vaccine development to delivery. The technical topics include the epidemiology of vaccination and clinical trials, modeling and economics of vaccination, and policy and implementation of vaccination programs. Lecturers from LSHTM, SSHSPH NUS, UNPAD, International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Indonesia Ministry of Health (MOH), Biofarma, and HITAP were invited. The short course lectures were designed to match the need of participants, which was to understand basic technical knowledge on various aspects in vaccines’ value chain. There were up to 48 workshop participants, mainly from Indonesia and some from the Philippines, Laos, and Vietnam. Overall, the participants were satisfied with the policy conference and short course and found the content to be useful for their work.