MANILA - Through a global network and supporting the development and implementation of WHO vaccine quality control standards, WHO collaborating centres are working with WHO to ensure vaccine safety across the Region.
Ensuring vaccines are safe and of high quality is important to all communities. WHO collaborating centres play key roles, working together to support WHO in setting international vaccine quality control standards.
To provide a platform for regular exchange and learning, the Global WHO Collaborating Centres Network on Vaccine Standards was established six years ago. Four of the eight network centres are in the Western Pacific Region: the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety of the Republic of Korea, the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) of China, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) of Japan and the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia's Department of Health.
The network centres from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea participated in the First Regional Forum of WHO Collaborating Centres in the Western Pacific in November 2014. The Forum served as an opportunity to strengthen their connections and share information on their work with other centres.
At the global level, the National Institute Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) in the United Kingdom often supports WHO to develop vaccine guidelines and standards. They then reach out to other laboratories to participate in collaborative studies. Laboratories in the Western Pacific Region have been particularly responsive. In 2015, the work of laboratories in the Region included review of Ebola vaccine manufacturing guidelines, which will be considered for approval by WHO's Expert Committee on Biological Standardization (ECBS) this October.
In addition to supporting standard setting, the WHO collaborating centres also support adoption and implementation of standards. With support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, in 2015 and 2016 NIID and WHO have provided training to enhance the skills of national regulatory authorities in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan and Viet Nam.
The MFDS was designated as WHO Global Learning Opportunities Centre for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) in 2006 and Vaccine Lot-Release in 2016. In 2015, 11 GMP inspectors – from Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Viet Nam – participated in GMP training and eight experts from eight countries completed a course on vaccine lot release. Also in 2015, 10 staff from national regulatory authorities / national control laboratories from five countries were invited to a training programme on use of equipment for vaccine quality control in 2015. A second training is also planned in August 2016.
In moving forward, a key emerging area of focus for these collaborating centres is how WHO and WHO collaborating centres can better cooperate during outbreaks of new diseases to efficiently evaluate vaccines.
Learn more:
WHO Global Learning Opportunities for Vaccine Quality (GLO/VQ):
https://www.who.int/initiatives/global-learning-opportunities-for-vaccine-quality