The field of science that deals with the evaluation techniques and methods involved in the evaluation of vaccines is vaccine epidemiology. The overall aim of the field of research is to provide an understanding about various methods and techniques involved in evaluation of vaccines and immunization.

There is increasing recognition of the role of vaccines as proven lifesaving interventions and that of the epidemiological principles in maximizing the benefits of vaccines and vaccination. While vaccinology delves into understanding how vaccines work, epidemiology helps to ascertain whether a particular vaccine is needed in targeted population (or age group) or not? For physicians and vaccine users alike, epidemiology and immunology are two important fields in medical science and public health, which helps in the better appreciation of the promise and potential of vaccines. While immunology is essential for understanding vaccine-host interactions, epidemiology is essential for understanding the implications of a vaccination program on the community and individuals. “Vaccine epidemiology” could be described as an interface between public health, basic medical sciences, and clinical medicine aimed at maximizing the benefit of existing knowledge in these areas.

The learning and study of vaccine epidemiology could help in the following: To make decisions on how to choose vaccines for inclusion in a public health program; to assess the disease burden; to identify target pathogens for vaccine research; to identify sources and transmission pathways of disease-causing agents; to determine vaccination strategies; to design disease-specific control, elimination, and eradication strategies; to monitor performance indicators; to take steps to improve surveillance; and to measure the progress and impact of vaccination strategies.

This page aims to outline the basic concepts and key principles of vaccine epidemiology, and to briefly describe how vaccination program managers and vaccinologists could use this knowledge and understanding in their respective fields of work.

The aim of vaccination is to protect individuals who are at risk of a disease. The children, the elderly, immune-compromised individuals, people living with chronic diseases, and people living in disease-endemic areas are those most commonly at risk. Vaccination is a common strategy to control, eliminate, eradicate, or contain disease (i.e., mass immunization strategy). If one wishes to learn about and understand vaccines, vaccination, and immunization programs, one needs to start with the understanding of key terms such as “antigen,” “antibody,” “immunoglobulins,” and “antisera,” among others.

Epidemiology pinpoints the weak links in the chains, sources, and transmission pathways of the pathogen so that the interventions can be directed. The understanding of epidemiology is required from the very early stage of priority-setting for disease burden, understanding the basis of correlates of protection, development of vaccines, evaluating different vaccination strategies including epidemiological and economic modeling, deciding national vaccination strategies, developing surveillance mechanisms, impact assessment, and designing vaccine introduction strategies.

The term “disease burden” or burden of disease (BoD) occupies a key place in epidemiology. The BoD could be measured by incidence or prevalence of a disease (prevaccine and postvaccine); severity/mortality (measured as case fatality ratio, hospitalization, and disease sequelae); disability [measured by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)] and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs)]; economics (measured by cost-effectiveness, cost benefit, and cost utility); and social aspects (measured by societal disruption, economic disruption, and household impact). The key concepts and study designs (i.e., cross-sectional, case-control, nested case-control, cohort studies) to understand epidemiology (disease occurrence and trends).

Media Contact:
John Kimberly
Assistant Editorial Manager
Journal of Vaccines & Vaccination
Email: jvv@scholarlypub.com