Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access
Everyone has a right to lifesaving vaccines, no matter where they live. The Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access (CVIA) accelerates the development and delivery of lifesaving vaccines for the communities facing the greatest health risks around the world.
Saving lives with vaccines
CVIA has played a critical role in some of immunization’s greatest successes of the past 30 years: The world’s first malaria vaccine, which has reached more than 2 million children (and counting); elimination of meningitis A epidemics in Africa where MenAfriVac® vaccine has been introduced, with more than 360 million people immunized; protecting more than 300 million children from Japanese encephalitis, a potentially debilitating and fatal brain infection; vaccinating millions of girls in 30 countries against human papillomavirus (HPV), the leading cause of cervical cancer; and introducing the first typhoid conjugate vaccine in six countries, protecting more than 56 million children.
Tackling the toughest diseases
Our portfolio of vaccines in development and deployment includes those against the most dangerous childhood illnesses, such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria. For example, beginning in 2011, we partnered to develop the world’s first malaria vaccine, and we supported implementation of the pivotal pilot introduction of the vaccine in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi. PATH’s breadth of experience in malaria prevention and treatment, paired with our expertise in malaria vaccine implementation, uniquely equips us to support countries as they plan their rollouts of malaria vaccines.
We mobilized quickly to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including supporting country vaccine readiness, COVAX, and other efforts to ensure equitable access to vaccines; vaccine development and manufacturing scale-up; and vaccine clinical evaluation efforts.
We supported the development and introduction of MenAfriVac®, a conjugate meningitis A vaccine that has been delivered to more than 360 million people across the African meningitis belt and virtually eliminated meningitis A wherever it has been used. PATH also partnered on MenFive®—the first vaccine to protect against meningitis A, C, W, Y, and X and with the potential to stop meningococcal meningitis epidemics in the meningitis belt in Africa, once and for all.
We transformed a Japanese encephalitis vaccine that had been available only in China into an internationally approved tool that has been delivered to more than 300 million people. With partners, we contributed to making a more affordable pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, PNEUMOSIL®, increasing protection for children against deadly pneumonia and other pneumococcal diseases like meningitis, sepsis, and otitis media.
We supported country-led efforts to assess the typhoid disease burden, secure support for typhoid vaccine introduction from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and leveraged typhoid vaccine introduction to reach children with other essential vaccines. In Malawi, PATH partnered with the immunization and education ministries to deliver typhoid, polio, and measles vaccines in an integrated campaign.
We partnered with manufacturers to ensure robust supplies and cost competition of lifesaving vaccines that can be used by the World Health Organization and Gavi—and, therefore, made widely available to communities across the world. Our support on clinical development, quality systems, and regulatory strategies has resulted in more than a dozen vaccines approved (prequalified) by the World Health Organization.
Get our updates
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Moving the Needle e-newsletter
Moving the Needle provides updates from CVIA on our vaccine development efforts, as well as related supporting work, such as developing human challenge models, building capacity of developing-country vaccine manufacturers, and evaluating new adjuvants and other novel vaccine technologies.
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Immunization Matters e-newsletter
Immunization Matters provides updates from CVIA on late-stage and licensed vaccines included in our portfolio as well as our work on health economics and optimization, operations research, and support to countries.
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DefeatDD website
PATH's Defeat Diarrheal Disease Initiative was started to raise awareness of the burden of diarrheal disease and help increase access to the solutions. We need your help to make a stink about the problem, and our website gives you the tools to do just that.
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PATH's malaria vaccine website
PATH's malaria vaccine work drives transformative innovation to save lives and improve health, especially among women and children. We work with partners in private industry, government, and academia to develop malaria vaccines.
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Take on Typhoid website
The Coalition against Typhoid (CaT) and the Typhoid Vaccine Acceleration Consortium (TyVAC) have joined forces to Take on Typhoid. Together, we are working to focus attention on typhoid and the need for typhoid conjugate vaccines and water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions to reduce the burden and impact of typhoid fever.
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HPVflash e-newsletter
In HPVflash, PATH provides updates on progress in the field, new literature, events, and partnerships in an effort to eliminate cervical cancer.
Meet the team
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Dr. Melanie Saville
Chief Scientific Officer, PATH
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Jessica Milman
Global Head, CVIA
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Dr. Margaret Toher
Global Head, Regulatory, CVIA
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Dr. Debbie Atherly
Global Head, Policy, Access, and Introduction, CVIA
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Dwayne Wilson
Global Head, Quality, CVIA
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Kerim Chitour, MD
Global Head of Clinical, Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access
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Dr. Simone Blayer
Global Head, Development (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls), CVIA
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Ashley Birkett
Global Head, Bacterial and Parasitic Diseases, Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access
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Dr. John Konz
Global Head, Viral Diseases, CVIA
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Katya Spielberg
Global Head, Integrated Portfolio and Financial Management, CVIA
Our partners
Our partners
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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
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The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
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Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
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The US Agency for International Development
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Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
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The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund
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PATH strives for vaccine equity in response to COVID-19
When COVID-19 emerged, we mobilized quickly and deployed our decades of experience advancing equitable access to vaccines and immunization to support the global COVID-19 response.