• The Vaccine Investment Strategy (VIS) Steering Committee provides guidance to Gavi’s evidence-based process to identify new and under-used vaccines of the highest importance to Gavi-supported countries and with the greatest need for financial support for inclusion into Gavi’s future portfolio.
• Prof Rees is an expert in vaccine implementation and delivery, vaccine research and development and regulatory science, and infectious disease epidemiology,
• Marta Tufet, the Head of Policy at Gavi: “It is a privilege to have Prof Rees lead the VIS Steering Committee. She brings wide insights, experience, expertise and passion to the Gavi mission, as the Alliance moves to take stock of the vaccine landscape for the coming years.”

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance appointed global health leader Professor Helen Rees as the Chair of its Vaccine Investment Strategy (VIS) Steering Committee. Prof Rees is an expert in vaccine implementation and delivery, vaccine research and development, regulatory science and infectious disease epidemiology.

The VIS Steering Committee guides Gavi’s evidence-based process to identify new and under-used vaccines of the highest importance to Gavi-supported countries and with the greatest need for financial support. The VIS enables Gavi to take stock of the vaccine landscape to assess the cost, impact, value and programmatic feasibility of relevant products. The VIS also provides partners, manufacturers and Gavi-supported countries with key information to support planning over a longer time horizon.

Prof Rees is Executive Director of Wits RHI, the University of Witwatersrand’s largest research institution which focuses on HIV/TB and other infectious diseases and vaccines, reproductive health and climate change and health. She is a Personal Professor in the University of Witwatersrand’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Co-Director of Wits African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE), a Wits University flagship programme. She is also an Honorary Professor in the Department of Clinical Research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and an Honorary Fellow in Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University. She has received an honorary doctorate in Science from the University of London and an Honorary Doctorate in Laws from Rhodes University in recognition of her work in regulatory science.

As Chair of the VIS Steering Committee, Prof Rees will provide guidance to Gavi’s process of developing the Vaccine Investment Strategy 2024 (VIS 2024), an 18-month evidence-driven process, which will inform the Gavi Board’s final investment decisions in June 2024. VIS 2024 will evaluate new vaccines and passive immunisation products anticipated to be available by 2030, as well as potential incremental investments for the existing Gavi portfolio and recommendations on vaccine prioritisation, particularly in a post-pandemic context.

“It is a privilege to have Prof Rees lead the VIS Steering Committee. She brings wide insights, experience, expertise and passion to the Gavi mission, as the Alliance moves to take stock of the vaccine landscape for the coming years,” said Marta Tufet, the Head of Policy at Gavi. “Prof Rees and the Committee’s input, guidance and support will inform Gavi and stakeholders in planning over a longer time horizon.”

About Professor Helen Rees

Prof Helen Rees brings extensive leadership experience in vaccine implementation and delivery, vaccine research and development and regulatory science, and infectious disease epidemiology.

She is the Founder and Executive Director of Wits RHI, University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (South Africa), where she is also a Personal Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Co-Director of the Wits African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE) a Wits University flagship programme.

Prof Rees is internationally renowned for her work in vaccines, HIV prevention and reproductive health. She has over 250 publications and has received many national and international awards for her contributions to African and global health.

In 2022, she was conferred by the University of London with an honorary Doctorate in Science (Medicine) DSc (honoris causa). In March 2023, she was conferred by Rhodes University as Doctor of Laws (LLD) (honoris causa) in recognition of her distinguished career and commitment to improving access to quality health care and medicines in South Africa, Africa and beyond.

Prof Rees has chaired numerous advisory groups and committees, including WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), WHO’s Expert Committee on HPV vaccines and WHO’s HIV Vaccine Expert Committee. In her capacity as SAGE Chair, she served on WHO’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety.

Prof Rees currently chairs several World Health Organization (WHO) committees and working groups, including the African Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group and the IHR Emergency Review Committee on Polio; and is Co-Chair of WHO’s Ebola Vaccine Working Group and the COVAX Facility’s Independent Product Group. She is a member of the IHR Emergency Committee on COVID-19, and of the SAGE Working Group on COVID-19 vaccines.

She is also a member of several national bodies, including as Chair of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA); and serves as a member of South Africa’s National Advisory Group on Immunization and Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19.

Prof Rees is an Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (UK) and serves on their Visiting Committee. She is an alumnus of Cambridge University (UK) and Harvard Business School (USA).

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Gavi’s Vaccine Investment Strategy (VIS)

The Vaccine Investment Strategy (VIS) is Gavi’s evidence-based process for identifying new and under-used vaccines of the highest importance to Gavi-supported countries and with the greatest need for financial support. It allows Gavi to take stock of the vaccine landscape to assess the cost, impact, value, and programmatic feasibility of relevant products. The VIS informs the Board of the various options for future investments, compares those options with each other and with existing investments, including trade-offs and opportunities for synergy. It also provides partners, manufacturers, and Gavi-supported countries with key information to support planning over a longer time horizon.

Gavi has commenced the development of VIS 2024. Following an 18-month evidence-driven prioritisation process, the Gavi Board will make final investment decisions in June 2024. VIS 2024 will include new vaccines and passive immunisation products anticipated to be available by 2030, as well as potential incremental investments for the existing Gavi portfolio and recommendations on vaccine prioritisation, particularly in a post-pandemic context.  

The VIS Steering Committee will:

• provide guidance on the strategic questions, methodology and process for the VIS;
• provide guidance on the evaluation framework, criteria and weightings;
• validate assumptions and outputs of analyses and models for each disease/vaccine; and
• support strategic thinking on emerging recommendations prior to Gavi governance decision points.

About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance 

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate more than half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organisations that fund Gavi’s work here.  

Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 1 billion children – and prevented more than 17.3 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 78 lower-income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation, above all the zero-dose children who have not received even a single vaccine shot. The Vaccine Alliance employs innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.