In 2010, with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation), the India Vaccinology Course or INDVAC, was implemented at the Christian Medical College, Vellore (CMC) as an educational method to address the need for knowledge and research in the field of Vaccinology. The course has been conducted consecutively every year for 10 years from 2010 to 2019, with the course having been conducted in South Africa in 2016 and 2018. So far, 535 participants from 34 countries have benefited from the course.

The renewed grant of $585,000 from the Gates Foundation will enable CMC to hold INDVAC every year, beginning 2021, for a period of 3 years. INDVAC will help build expertise on the academic aspects of Vaccinology and will create a pool of trained health professionals for assessing evidence, making policy, and delivering vaccines and other preventive interventions. INDVAC also offers students of Global Health the opportunity to learn about vaccines used in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, as well as issues related to recent advances and research aspects of vaccines. It will help create a network and forum of professionals interested in the field of vaccinology.

Vaccines have been able to transform public health on an international level and have been an ever-present health concern specifically in the Global South. For additional information on the course, please visit: http://www.indvac.org/