Download Graduate School of Public Health

Graduate School of Public Health
Seoul National University
Epidemiology and Vaccinology course
1. Background
A cursory look at the past is enough to grasp the tremendous progress in preventing infectious
diseases which has been achieved through vaccination. Polio may soon be eradicated, just as smallpox
was in 1977. In 1974, when the Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI) was launched by the World
Health Organization, only 5% of the world's children were immunised against the initial six target diseases
-tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and measles. By 1990, immunization coverage
increased reaching almost 80% with an estimated three million childhood deaths prevented each year.
Yet infectious diseases are still responsible for a third of all deaths, killing at least 13 million people a year.
Of those, more than 5 million are children under five. There are, however, reasons to be optimistic. Never
have there been so many vaccines in various stages of development as now and the number of available
vaccines stands to increase further. The biotechnological revolutions along with the increased knowledge
about immune responses allow the construction of “intelligent vaccines” against HIV, M. tuberculosis or P.
falciparum. At the same time, future vaccines will have an increasing role beyond infancy, targeting other
specific ages or occupational groups: vaccines against sexually transmitted diseases at adolescence or
combined prevention of respiratory infections for elderly people. Finally, future vaccines will expand into
chronic or autoimmune diseases.
2. Course objectives
The course objectives are:
1) To equip students with the knowledge and skills to enable them to make valuable contributions
to vaccine research.
2) To bridge the disciplines of epidemiology, laboratory sciences and public health and policy for
training and retraining of students who wish to work directly on a multidisciplinary practical
approach to the control of infectious diseases/immunization programs, and
3) To equip students with specialised skills that will facilitate a career role in the control of
infectious diseases/immunization programs as staff of health ministries, regional or local health
departments, national or international disease control agencies, international aid organisations
or universities.
3. Course outcomes
By the end of this course, students should have acquired a basic understanding and knowledge of
contemporary vaccinology. At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to: (i) demonstrate a
basic knowledge and understanding of the principles underlying immunological and molecular biological
techniques applied to vaccine development and research; (ii) demonstrate an advanced knowledge and
understanding of the role of epidemiology and its contribution to introduction; (iii) demonstrate
knowledge of methods for pre-licensure clinical evaluation of an experimental vaccines leading to product
licensure and registration; (iv) demonstrate knowledge of methods for post-marketing assessments of
vaccine safety and effectiveness; (v) understand the principles and approaches to economic analyses of
vaccines and their impact; (vi) demonstrate knowledge of key issues confronting vaccine development
against several key pathogens affecting Asian populations.
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Students will also be asked to lead group discussions on contemporary controversies in vaccines.
4. Text Books and References
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Kim JS. Principles of Epidemiology (2001)
Janeway CA, Travers P, Walport M and Shlomchik M editors. Immunobiology. The immune
system in health and disease. Garland Publishing; 2001
Levine MM, Woodrow GC, Kaper JB, Cobon GS, editors. New Generation Vaccines. New York,
Basel, Hong Kong: Marcel Dekker Inc; 1997
Smith PG and Morrow RH editors. Field trials of health interventions in developing countries
Macmillan Education LTD 1996
Plotkin SA and Orenstein WA editors. Vaccines. WB Saunders Company. 1999
5. Teaching Program
week
Lecturer
1
Course introduction
Soon Ae Kim
2
Vaccine-preventable disease : Introduction and epidemiology
R. Leon Ochiai
3
4
Immunology : from basic concept to research application
Epidemiologic research: methodologies and application of disease burden and
surveillance
Mina Kwon
Soon Ae Kim/R. Leon
Ochiai
5
Vaccine development
Rodney Carbis
6
Clinical trials in vaccines
Thomas F. Wierzba
7
Analysis of vaccine research
Mohammad Ali
8
Midterm exam
9
Post marketing studies: vaccine efficacy and effectiveness study
Thomas F. Wierzba
10
Economic studies in vaccines
Brian Maskery
11
Contemporary issues: setting up field sites in developing countries, TSAP
Florian Marks
12
Contemporary issues: Clinical trials, Cholera program
Binod Sah
13
Contemporary issues: Vaccination introduction and policy making, SIVAC
Nyambat Batmunkh
14
Seminar: Group presentation
Soon Ae Kim
Terminal exam
6. Evaluation of academic record
Final exam: 60%; attendance: 20%; group presentation and/or report: 20%
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