In this article, Mario Christodoulou* spoke with vaccine safety expert, Dr Robert Chen, Science Director of the Brighton Collaboration, the largest global organisation of scientific experts on vaccine safety, about how vaccine safety is assessed in clinical trials and how regulators and vaccine developers are ensuring the safety of COVID-19 vaccines whilst also moving at great speed. Dr Chen answers questions such as ‘How can we be sure safety isn’t being compromised?’ and ‘What should we be focused on once COVID-19 vaccines are introduced?’
Dr Chen is also working with CEPI, as part of the Safety Platform for Emergency vACcines (SPEAC) Project, to examine the safety profiles of the COVID-19 vaccines CEPI is funding.
*Mario Christodoulou is Communications and Advocacy Manager at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global partnership launched in 2017 to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics.