News

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Brighton Collaboration, based in Atlanta at The Task Force for Global Health, announced the expansion of the Safety Platform for Emergency vACcines (SPEAC), a partnership contributing to the safety of future vaccines to prevent and respond to pandemics. View the announcement on cepi.net >

SPEAC has completed a fifth update to the Priority List of potential Adverse events of special interest relevant to COVID-19 vaccine trials.  Past updates focused on COVID-19 disease course and complications whereas this one shifts the emphasis to what has been observed for COVID-19 vaccines currently in use. It is limited to countries with pharmacovigilance programs in place that are able to monitor large populations (United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, European Union). http:brightoncollaboration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Updated-COVID-19-AESI-list_Oct2022-1.pdf

We are proud to announce that Dr. Bob Chen, Scientific Director of the Brighton Collaboration, received a special award for “Contributions to Public Health Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic” from the International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) at its 38th annual meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 27, 2022. http:brightoncollaboration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ISPE-COVID19-Award.Chen_.2022.08.2746817-2.pdf

To help meet its increasing needs, the Secretariat for the Brighton Collaboration (BC) has recently posted a new staff position: Director of Research. The position description and link to apply can be found at the following link: Job Posting  (see below for a summary). The Brighton Collaboration is now one of the programs of the Task Force for Global Health’s Center for Vaccine Equity.  Emory University manages the Human Resources for the Task Force for Global Health. The Director of Research for the

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) through the Safety Platform for Emergency vACcines (SPEAC) project, has funded the development of a training program for potential Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) participation which will prioritize participants from low and middle-income countries (LMIC). CEPI has an expanding portfolio which is currently funding the development of several vaccines for Lassa fever, Chikungunya, Rift Valley fever, MERS, Nipah and COVID-19. Since trials for these vaccines as well as others will be conducted in countries where

On behalf of the COVAX Vaccine Safety Working group: After COVID-19 vaccines are introduced into countries, it will be vital to generate real-world data on vaccine safety following immunization, as many questions will remain unanswered by the clinical trials. Active Vaccine Safety Surveillance (AVSS) will likely be conducted in a variety of countries, in a variety of populations, and using a variety of study designs. We are reaching out to you as you or persons you know/work with may be conducting these

The current Brighton Collaboration Science Board has voted to accept all 16 candidates onto the new Brighton Collaboration Science Board. After consideration of all the candidates and given current unique circumstances, the nominating committee (consisting of the 3 outgoing SB members) proposed that all candidates be appointed to a provisional Science Board for the next two years rather than have an election that would result in only 10 of the 16 being appointed to the board. Click here to download the

SPEAC has completed a 4th update of the COVID-19 clinical literature covering the period from November 2020 – August 2021. Click HERE to view the COVID-19 AESI list. The primary objectives were to review the evidence on the following outcomes: Long COVID (click here to view); acute cardiac injury other than myocarditis/pericarditis; maternal, foetal and neonatal outcomes; paediatric and adult COVID-19 related complications; system-specific COVID-19 complications. For this update, the search focused on meta-analyses and reviews and excluded case reports,

We would like to announce the upcoming Brighton Collaboration Science Board election. The Science Board meets monthly for one hour to help determine the scientific activities of the Brighton Collaboration. It develops scientific strategies and policies, and decides on new initiatives or re-directing ongoing initiatives. The Science Board also supervises activities and provides scientific advice to working groups and committees. Traditionally, the Board sought to have a balance of members specializing in clinical assessment, regulatory, setting standards, vaccine hesitancy, database,

As part of its role to support the assessment of safety of vaccines being evaluated in CEPI funded clinical trials, the Safety Platform for Emergency Vaccines (SPEAC) project has been tasked with developing a pool of potential members from the target disease areas that are candidates to serve on the study sponsor Data Safety Monitoring Boards (DSMBs). The goal of this effort was to develop a roster of qualified individuals from each study region, from which study sponsors can select

Recent news of the possible complications of blood clots – or Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) – following the AstraZeneca/Oxford and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccines have raised public concerns and questions about vaccine safety. Once TTS emerged as a safety concern, the Brighton Collaboration was invited by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to rapidly develop an interim case definition for case finding purposes. As next steps, Brighton is organizing a process to collect and share more complete information on the possible

 The Benefit-Risk Assessment of Vaccines by TechnolOgy (BRAVATO) working group has developed standardized templates for the collection of key information for the development, efficacy, and safety of new vaccine candidates. A template is planned for the collection of key information for a structured B-R approach for vaccines. This will be an additional module that can be appended to the existing BRAVATO vaccine assessment templates or used independently to support these advancements in B-R. See Below to view the full Benefit-Risk Working Group

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has invested in The Task Force for Global Health (TFGH) to help low and middle income counties with COVID-19 immunization programs. Click here to view the Press Release: CDC Taps The Task Force’s Expertise to Roll Out COVID-19 Vaccine in up to 50 Counties 

SPEAC has completed a second update of the COVID-19 clinical literature covering the period of August 8 through November 13th 2020. Based on this review three entities are being added to the COVID-19 AESI list: subacute thyroiditis, acute pancreatitis and rhabdomyolysis. The full document provides detailed methodology and results related to these additions as well as proposals for laboratory-based definitions of acute kidney and acute liver injury in lieu of new Brighton case definitions. In addition a consolidation of all citations

Robert Chen, the Scientific Director of Brighton Collaboration, discussed the safety profiles of COVID-19 vaccines with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). To view the article click here.

Brighton Collaboration (BC) has been added to the Vaccine Safety Net (VSN). VSN is a global network of websites, established by the World Health Organization (WHO), that provides reliable information on vaccine safety.

Digital apps have much potential for improving the quality of safety data collected during both pre and post-introduction of new vaccines, including SARS-COV-2 candidate vaccines.Brighton Collaboration (BC) is forming two inter-related working groups (both working together initially) to harmonize this effort as follows: Group A: Clinically-focus on issues like which adverse events following immunizations (AEFI) to include and how to collect this information; building largely on prior BC guidance when possible. Group B: Technology-focus on issues like which app standards to

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) has partnered with the Brighton Collaboration to support the safety assessment of its candidate vaccines, including SARS-COV-2.Four AESI have been targeted for case definition development on an urgent prioritized basis over the next 3-4 months.  The specific AESI in order of priority are: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C): June 2020 start Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS): June 2020 start Acute cardiovascular injury: July 2020 start Coagulation disorder: July 2020 start It is

Our previous post entitled Transition of Brighton Collaboration informed you of several new developments to strengthen the Brighton Collaboration, including our move to the Task Force for Global Health (TFGH; taskforce.org) in Decatur, GA, USA . For members of the original Brighton Collaboration, we encourage you to maintain your active relationship with Brighton Collaboration throughout this transition. For others, we encourage you to begin a new relationship with Brighton Collaboration and help us build trust in safety of vaccines through rigorous science. Either

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Brighton Collaboration, based in Atlanta at The Task Force for Global Health, announced the launch of the Safety Platform for Emergency vACcines (SPEAC) Project on May 28th, 2019.For the full press release, please use the link below:     Alternative Link: CEPI partners with Brighton Collaboration to support safety assessment of vaccine candidates    

Dear Partners and Visitors As announced on the 21st of May 2019, the Brighton Collaboration will be dissolved as a Partnership under Swiss law and reconstituted as a programme of the Task Force for Global Health (TFGH; www.taskforce.org). The Swiss Brighton Collaboration Foundation, it’s Foundation Board and Management Team remain available to ensure access to the Academy until the new programme is settled in at TFGH. Click here to see the full BC Communication.