Vaccine immunity

Assessing vaccine immunity and generating correlates of protection

The protection afforded by vaccines against infectious agents is assessed empirically in animal infection models and human trials, and through the assessment of the immune response generated upon vaccination.

This assessment of immune response to infection can be used to generate a correlate of protection (e.g. neutralising antibody titres against viruses) and will be augmented by recent advances in antibody repertoire analyses. Effective correlates of protection can then be used to compare different vaccines (and their optimal doses) and to assess the potential for a new vaccine to generate a protective immune response.