SAVE THE DATES!!
The next edition of ARVAC, the free online Alumni Refresher Vaccinology Course will be held twice on:
Tuesday 2 to Thursday 4 September 2025,
from 10 am to 12:20 PM (CET, Geneva Time) for the "Morning Session"
And
Monday 8 to Wednesday 10 September 2025,
from 3 PM eto 5:20 PM (CET, Geneva Time) for the "Afternoon Session"
Registration are open. Please contact
Context
ICAVT is a partnership of more than 30 vaccinology courses worldwide. Those trainings have a different history, background, content and audiences but they all have trained, over the years, altogether, thousands of experts in the area of vaccinology.
However, alumni from those various trainings have constantly requested to attend again the trainings they attended initially or other ones to update their knowledge as the vaccinology area is in constant evolution and changes thanks to a strong research pipeline and a rich and diverse implementation community.
Instead of allowing alumni to attend the trainings they already completed again or attend another course and therefore reduce the number of new experts trained, ICAVT members have agreed to jointly develop a single common refresher course dedicated to their alumni. This course provides annually the alumni from various background with lectures on the last updates on immunization and on new topics key for their daily activities.
Course objectives
The course aims at providing a refresher course and latest updates on immunization and vaccines to the alumni of the various existing advanced vaccinology training courses worldwide and their partners already trained in vaccinology/immunology.
The alumni refresher vaccinology course will provide updates in the following key areas of vaccinology: immunology, vaccine development, clinical trials, regulatory processes, vaccine-specific issues including new vaccines, vaccination strategies and policies, programme implementation, humanitarian emergencies, social, economic, political and ethical issues, financing, and communications. It will also provide lectures on new areas of the discipline uncovered by previous courses.
Who can attend?
This new course is targeting health care experts which have already been trained in vaccinology/immunology (ICAVT Alumni and partners). If you haven't been trained yet in vaccinology, we advise you to visit the ICAVT Vaccinology Trainings catalogue to identify courses you can apply to.
Format
The exact same online course is offered twice to allow participants from all over the world to attend (Morning + Afternoon sessions scheduled on 2 different weeks):
- Each week, 3 half-day sessions (3-4 hours each) are offered.
- Each session of 3-4 hours contains 3 to 4 lectures of 35 minutes each.
- Each lecture consists in a 25-minutes lecture and a 10 minutes live discussion between the attendants and the lecturer, animated by the chair of the session (an ICAVT member)
- Alumni and ICAVT partners can ask questions using the Chat.
Accreditation
The ARVAC programme has been submitted for accreditation to the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME®). Up to 6 CME credits can thus be earned by the attendants of each session (Morning week : EACCME® event reference LEE/2025/01284; and Afternoon week : EACCME® event reference LEE/2025/01286).
The course organizer (ADVAC at the University of Geneva) will check the attendance during the course to be able to deliver the Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits adequately. Participants in the Course should be able to convert these credits through their respective professional bodies. For more imformation on the mutual recognition of credits please consult the page "collaboration" on https://eaccme.uems.eu/
PROGRAMME ARVAC 2025
MORNING WEEK: 2-4 SEPTEMBER 2025 - EACCME® event reference LEE/2025/01284
|
TUESDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2025 Opening By Kamel Senouci, Director ADVAC, ICAVT Secretariat |
| Chair - Ombeva Malande, Moi University, East African Center for Vaccines and Immunization, Kenya |
| Lecture 1: Updates on PCV, Brad Gessner, independent expert, USA |
| Lecture 2: Updates on enteric viral pathogens vaccines (Rota, Noro), Duncan Steele, Gates Foundation, USA |
| Lecture 3: Updates on enteric bacterial pathogens vaccines (ETEC, Shigella), Duncan Steele, Gates Foundation, USA |
| Lecture 4: Updates on RSV (including adults) and GBS vaccines, Azucena Bardaji, IS Global, Spain |
| WEDNESDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2025 |
| Chair - Denise Naniche, ISGlobal, Spain |
| Lecture 5 : Artificial Intelligence in the Vaccinology Development, Arminder Deol, CEPI |
| Lecture 6: Developing Vaccines for outbreaks (including pandemics), Gwen Tobert, CEPI, UK |
| Lecture 7: Climate Change and vaccines (through the example of arboviruses?), Kate O’Brien, WHO |
|
Panel 1: What’s new on the vaccine policy and country support front?, Marta Tufet Bayona (Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance) & Melanie Marti (WHO) & Maya Vandenent (UNICEF) |
| THURSDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2025 |
| Chair - Naveen Thacker, Child Health Foundation, India |
| Panel 2: Financial support to countries? (consequences of Aid cuts on immunization coverage, mortality and VPDs), Alex Adjagba (UNICEF) & Davide Rasella (IS Global, Spain) |
| Lecture 8: Prioritization and Optimization of the immunization schedule, Johanna Fihman, WHO, Switzerland |
| Lecture 9: Vaccine market, market shaping and regional initiatives for vaccine production, Tania Cernuschi, WHO, Switzerland |
| Lecture 10: Human Challenge Trials, Malick Gibani, Imperial College, UK |
AFTERNOON WEEK: 8-10 SEPTEMBER 2025 - EACCME® event reference LEE/2025/01286
| MONDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2025 |
|
Opening By Kamel Senouci, Director ADVAC, ICAVT Secretariat |
| Chair - Ombeva Malande, Moi University, East African Center for Vaccines and Immunization, Kenya |
| Lecture 1: Updates on RSV (including adults) and GBS vaccines, Azucena Bardaji, IS Global, Spain |
| Lecture 2: Updates on enteric viral pathogens vaccines (Rota, Noro), Duncan Steele, Gates Foundation, USA |
| Lecture 3: Updates on enteric bacterial pathogens vaccines (ETEC, Shigella), Duncan Steele, Gates Foundation, USA |
| Lecture 4: Updates on PCV, Brad Gessner, independent expert, USA |
| TUESDAY 9 SEPTEMBER 2025 |
| Chair - Rodolfo Villena, Universidad del Chile, Chile |
| Panel 1: What’s new on the vaccine policy and support front? Marta Tufet Bayona (Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance) & Melanie Marti (WHO) & Niklas Danielsson (UNICEF) |
| Lecture 5: Artificial Intelligence in the Vaccinology Development, Edwin Asturias (University of Colorado, USA) |
| Lecture 6: Developing Vaccines for outbreaks (including pandemics), Nicki Lurie, CEPI, UK |
| Lecture 7: Prioritization and Optimization of the immunization schedule, Johanna Fihman, WHO, Switzerland |
| WEDNESDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2025 |
| Chair - Kamel Senouci, University of Geneva Center for Vaccinology, Switzerland |
| Panel 2: Financial support to countries? (consequences of aid cuts on immunization coverage, mortality and VPDs), Panellists: Alex Adjagba, UNICEF & Davide Rasella (IS Global) |
| Lecture 8: Climate Change and vaccines (through the example of arboviruses?), Eduardo Lopez-Medina (Cali, Colombia) |
| Lecture 9: Vaccine market, market shaping and regional initiatives for vaccine production, Tania Cernuschi, WHO, Switzerland |
| Lecture 10: Human Challenge Trials, Malick Gibani, Imperial College, UK |
RESOURCE MATERIAL
Detailed Agendas
Specific Objectives of the Training
Scientific Committee
Lecturers & Panelists 2025