The S3 programme (30 ECTS)

For a specialisation in research and clinical vaccinology, the students will be trained in France in the Master called “Genetics & Biology of the Cell - Fundamental Infectiology” co-accredited by Université Jean Monnet Saint Etienne 1 (UJM) & Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL). The S3 programme is composed of: 

• 4 core scientific courses:
• Vaccine formulation (3ECTS), 
• Clinical vaccine development (3ECTS), 
• Immunomonitoring of preclinical and clinical vaccine trials (3ECTS), 
• Vaccine specific applications (3ECTS) and 
• Epidemiology (3ECTS); 
• Socio-economic sciences & humanities (SSH): Communicating on vaccines & public health (6ECTS); 
• Advanced immunopathology: Immunology & cancer (3ECTS); 
• Project management (3ECTS) and 
• Language course (3ECTS).

 The students will benefit from the skills of the French Merial and Sanofi Pasteur sites to deepen their knowledge in vaccinology.

Communicating and Advertising on Vaccines and Public Health in Developed and Developing Countries

 Vaccines have been and remain a major tool for public health strategies. But the growing complexity of current vaccine agendas for children, the ongoing introduction of new vaccines (conjugate vaccines, programs targeting adults or the aging, addressing chronic or non-infectious diseases) have made decision-making more complex for vaccine producers and authorities in public health and blurred the meanings and purposes of vaccination for the general public. Accordingly, it appears important to provide all apprentices and professionals dealing with vaccines with knowledge pertaining to social sciences as well as biomedical sciences.  

The course will include a basic historical knowledge  from variolation, cowpox and antirabies vaccines in the 19th century through the first mass vaccines (such as polio in the 20th century 1950s), to the vaccines produced thanks to the most recent and innovative technologies of cell cultures and biomedical engineering. Epidemiological data on the evolution of vaccine coverage and demography will be presented. The place of vaccines in public health policies will be discussed on the basis of their scientific assessment as well as benefit-cost evaluation. Decision support software systems (such as SMART VACCINES), created to facilitate the choice priorities for developing new vaccines and deploying existing vaccines, will receive comment. The anthropology of vaccine reception, acceptation and resistance has produced an impressive mass of documents. In Western countries, the public has been sensitized to the promise of vaccines tailor-made for the individual, including vaccines adapted to his/her genetic make-up and specific susceptibility to pathogens, and is very reactive to the issue of adverse events. The epidemiological data show a decline of trust in vaccination in European countries and sporadic episodes of resistance in the developing world. Advertising by pharmaceutical companies as well as communication by experts reports need to be aware of all these issues.  

The course accordingly will draw on the extensive literature recently published on all these topics, which can be listed as follows:  

1. History of vaccination and vaccines
2. Epidemiology and vaccination
3. The place of vaccination in public health decisions
4. Social factors influencing vaccine policies and strategies in different countries
5. Anthropology of vaccine acceptance and rejection
6. Public and media perception of vaccination and vaccines
7. Health economics and vaccines
8. The future of vaccinology  

Anne Marie Moulin, MD, Ph. D, UMR 7219 SPHERE CNRS/Paris V II University (Sciences Philosophy History)

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