WHAT:

Leading health experts from around the world – international public health experts, senior industry leaders, government officials and vaccine researchers – will convene at the World Vaccine Congress in Montréal to discuss global strategies for vaccine development and access.

WHEN:

18 - 20 April 2005

WHERE:

Montréal | Hôtel Omni Mont-Royal, 1050 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal

WHO:

Dr Phillip Gomez, Director, Vaccine Production Programme, Vaccine Research Center, NIAID, NIH
Dr David Heymann, Executive Director, Communicable Diseases, WHO
Dr Arlene King, Director, Immunisation and Respiratory Infections, Public Health Agency of Canada
Andrew Jones, Regional Manager, The Vaccine Fund
Dr Ruth Levine, Director of Programmes and Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Clement Lewin, Vice President, Government Affairs and Immunisation Policy, Chiron Vaccines
Mark Lievonen, President, Aventis Pasteur Canada
Dr Ciro de Quadros, Director, International Programmes, Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute

WHY:

With 27 million children worldwide lacking access to life-saving vaccines, speakers at the conference will show that increased political will and funding can put success within reach – as demonstrated through the work of public-private partnerships such as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). The Montréal conference will also focus on health problems that impact industrialized countries, with sessions on flu vaccines and biodefense applications. Some of the questions to be addressed include:

• Fifty years after introduction of polio vaccine, what challenges remain, and how much will it cost to keep crippling disease at bay?
  
• With vaccines in the pipeline for biggest killers of world’s poorest children, will there be funding to immunize those most affected?
  
• How well prepared are Canada and other nations to produce vaccines against avian flu and other feared strains of influenza? 
  
• What is the role of vaccines in biodefense, and what are the newest technologies and targets?

Members of the press can register online at: http://www.lifescienceworld.com/2005/wvcm_CA/