Vaccines nonprofit The Human Vaccines Project (HVP) on Thursday launched the COVID Vaccine Initiative (CVI) to help develop safe, effective, accessible vaccines for those most vulnerable to COVID-19.

The focus will be on accelerating vaccine development for older people and those living in low- and middle-income countries.

In partnership with scientists, vaccine developers, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, FHI 360 and the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, HVP will conduct natural history and vaccine studies and will apply its methods in immune monitoring, systems biology and artificial intelligence to determine how to generate effective immunity in these vulnerable populations.

The CVI's Advocacy and Policy programme will serve as a forum for dissemination and synthesis of critical information and data relevant to accelerating vaccine development, and it will develop a roadmap to ensure that the major R&D challenges impeding the development of safe and effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are addressed.