Terms of Reference

1. Review the evidence and prepare recommendations related to the use of yellow fever vaccines and contained in the 2003 WHO position paper for SAGE review, and subsequent publication of an updated vaccine position paper. The questions particularly to be addressed include the following:
• Reconsider the need for booster doses every 10 years including for travelers in the context of the International Health regulations;
• Review the impact of routine vaccination versus outbreak control;
• Review the impact of the combined vaccination strategy (routine immunization and preventive campaigns);
• Review the safety profile of the vaccines and update the recommendations in the context of safety issues including in particular with respect to immunization of HIV infected populations and immunocompromised, in pregnant or lactating women, people over 60 years old and in context of viscerotropic and neurological diseases;
• Review of interference between yellow fever and other vaccines and co-administered vaccination.
  

Composition

SAGE Members

• Claire-Anne Siegrist, University of Geneva, Switzerland
• Piyanit Tharmaphornpilas, National Immunization Program, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand
• Oyewale Tomori, Chair of Working Group. Redeemer's University, Nigeria

Experts

• Chantal Akoua-Koffi, Department of Biology, University of Bouake, Côte d'Ivoire
• Alan Barrett, Sealy Center for Vaccine Development, USA
• Li Dexin, National Institute of Viral Diseases Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control, China
• Eduardo Gotuzzo, Department of Medicine, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru
• Dede Kusmiaty, National Agency of Drug and Food Control, Indonesia
• Maryanne Neill, Retired, Monitoring Officer, Immunizations UNICEF, USA
• Matthias Niedrig, Robert Koch Institute, Germany
• Jennifer Staples, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA
• Pedro Vasconcelos, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Brazil

WHO Secretariat

• Sergio Yactayo
• Joachim Hombach
• Philippe Duclos

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS FOR WHO EXPERTS

All Working Group members completed a declaration of interests.
Four members reported relevant interests. All interests were assessed not to constitute a conflict of interest. It was concluded that all members could take part in full in all of the discussions. The reported relevant interests are summarized below:

Alan Barrett

• Received consultancy fees from Hawaii Biotech on tick-borne encephalitis vaccines and consultancy fees from Merck on dengue vaccines. This interest was assessed as non-personal, non-specific and financially insignificant*.

Matthias Niedrig

• His laboratory had a contract with Crucell for performing full length sequencing yellow fever primary and working seed lot to demonstrate the integrity of the 17D vaccine strain. This interest was assessed as non-personal, non-specific and financially insignificant*.

Claire-Anne Siegrist

• Her university receives funding from Sanofi Pasteur, NasVax Ltd and DBV Technologies for conducting research in vaccine adjuvants and seroepidemiology of pneumococcal infections. Until 2008, her university also received research funding from GlaxoSmithKline to study pertussis antibodies. These interests were assessed as non-personal, non-specific and financially significant*.
• Developed and owns the Viavac immunization management software destined to support Swiss health care professionals to follow the official immunization recommendations. Her ownership in the enterprise generates royalties of less than 10,000 USD per annum. This interest was assessed as personal, non-specific and financially significant*.
• Received in 2007-2010 partial travel grants from Sanofi Pasteur and Wyeth to attend two scientific meetings on pneumococcal vaccines. This interest was assessed as personal, non-specific and financially insignificant*. Until 2009, received small honoraria from GlaxoSmithKline for vaccinology training of paediatricians. This interest was assessed as personal, non-specific and financially insignificant*.

Piyanit Tharmaphornpilas

• Received in 2010 a travel grant from Sanofi Pasteur to attend the 8th Asia-Pacific Travel Health Conference. This interest was assessed as personal, non-specific and financially insignificant*.
• Received in 2009 an honorarium from GlaxoSmithKline for speaking in the Rotavirus Expert Forum. This interest was assessed as personal, non-specific and financially insignificant*.
• Received in 2009 a travel grant from a joint venture of the Thai Government Pharmaceutical Organization - Merieux Biological Product, to attend the Influenza Vaccines for the World conference. This interest was assessed as personal, non-specific and financially insignificant*.

* According to WHO's Guidelines for Declaration of Interests (WHO expert), an interest is considered "personal" if it generates financial or non-financial gain to the expert, such as consulting income or a patent. "Specificity" states whether the declared interest is a subject matter of the meeting or work to be undertaken. An interest has "financial significance" if the honoraria, consultancy fee or other received funding, including those received by expert's organization, from any single vaccine manufacturer or other vaccine-related company exceeds 10,000 USD in a calendar year. Likewise, a shareholding in any one vaccine manufacturer or other vaccine-related company in excess of 1,000 USD would also constitute a “significant shareholding”.