COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical (VaST) Work Group: Enhancing vaccine safety monitoring during the pandemic
- PMID: 38341293
- DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.12.059
COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical (VaST) Work Group: Enhancing vaccine safety monitoring during the pandemic
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, candidate COVID-19 vaccines were being developed for potential use in the United States on an unprecedented, accelerated schedule. It was anticipated that once available, under U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) or FDA approval, COVID-19 vaccines would be broadly used and potentially administered to millions of individuals in a short period of time. Intensive monitoring in the post-EUA/licensure period would be necessary for timely detection and assessment of potential safety concerns. To address this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) convened an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) work group focused solely on COVID-19 vaccine safety, consisting of independent vaccine safety experts and representatives from federal agencies - the ACIP COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical Work Group (VaST). This report provides an overview of the organization and activities of VaST, summarizes data reviewed as part of the comprehensive effort to monitor vaccine safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlights selected actions taken by CDC, ACIP, and FDA in response to accumulating post-authorization safety data. VaST convened regular meetings over the course of 29 months, from November 2020 through April 2023; through March 2023 FDA issued EUAs for six COVID-19 vaccines from four different manufacturers and subsequently licensed two of these COVID-19 vaccines. The independent vaccine safety experts collaborated with federal agencies to ensure timely assessment of vaccine safety data during this time. VaST worked closely with the ACIP COVID-19 Vaccines Work Group; that work group used safety data and VaST's assessments for benefit-risk assessments and guidance for COVID-19 vaccination policy. Safety topics reviewed by VaST included those identified in safety monitoring systems and other topics of scientific or public interest. VaST provided guidance to CDC's COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring efforts, provided a forum for review of data from several U.S. government vaccine safety systems, and assured that a diverse group of scientists and clinicians, external to the federal government, promptly reviewed vaccine safety data. In the event of a future pandemic or other biological public health emergency, the VaST model could be used to strengthen vaccine safety monitoring, enhance public confidence, and increase transparency through incorporation of independent, non-government safety experts into the monitoring process, and through strong collaboration among federal and other partners.
Keywords: COVID-19 vaccines; Emergency Use Authorization; Vaccine safety.
Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Conflict of interest statement
Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Similar articles
-
The v-safe after vaccination health checker: Active vaccine safety monitoring during CDC's COVID-19 pandemic response.Vaccine. 2023 Feb 10;41(7):1310-1318. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.12.031. Epub 2023 Jan 23. Vaccine. 2023. PMID: 36697313 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Use of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 Vaccine: Updated Interim Recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices - United States, December 2021.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2022 Jan 21;71(3):90-95. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7103a4. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2022. PMID: 35051137 Free PMC article.
-
Prevention and Control of Seasonal Influenza with Vaccines: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, United States, 2021-22 Influenza Season.MMWR Recomm Rep. 2021 Aug 27;70(5):1-28. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.rr7005a1. MMWR Recomm Rep. 2021. PMID: 34448800 Free PMC article.
-
Use of COVID-19 Vaccines After Reports of Adverse Events Among Adult Recipients of Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) and mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna): Update from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices - United States, July 2021.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021 Aug 13;70(32):1094-1099. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7032e4. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021. PMID: 34383735 Free PMC article.
-
Principles of Vaccine Licensure, Approval, and Recommendations for Use.Mayo Clin Proc. 2020 Mar;95(3):600-608. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2019.11.002. Epub 2020 Feb 13. Mayo Clin Proc. 2020. PMID: 32063358 Review.
Cited by
-
Use of an Additional Updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 Vaccine Dose for Adults Aged ≥65 Years: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices - United States, 2024.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024 Apr 25;73(16):377-381. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7316a4. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024. PMID: 38662708 Free PMC article.
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Miscellaneous