In episode 13, our host, Associate Professor Nigel Crawford, speaks to Professor Kim Mulholland. Kim is a paediatrician and Professor of Child Health from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the University of Melbourne department of Paediatrics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. With post-graduate training in immunology, respiratory medicine and tropical medicine, his vast experience includes developing a program of research covering all aspects of childhood pneumonia which helped guide WHO policies. He has been involved in the oversight of many vaccine trials and has served on steering committees or DSMBs for a range of vaccines including pneumococcal, dengue, RSV and COVID-19. He and Nigel discuss:

•global issues brought about by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and some of the surprising ways the virus has spread globally
•what we can learn from seroprevalence in countries such as India
•vaccine nationalism and the push for global solidarity
•the role of Australia in the pacific region in regards to vaccine preparedness
•global, equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines

Links:

Developing a Low-Cost and Accessible COVID-19 Vaccine for Global Health
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202003.0464/v1

WHO Chief Urges Nations to Join in Preventing ‘Vaccine Nationalism’
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/08/18/903617560/who-chief-urges-nations-to-join-in-preventing-vaccine-nationalism

Africa declared free of wild polio
https://mvec.mcri.edu.au/africa-declared-free-of-wild-polio/

The Meningitis Vaccine Project: A groundbreaking partnership
https://www.path.org/articles/about-meningitis-vaccine-project/

GAVI vaccine alliance
https://www.gavi.org/history-gavi