Description of Collaborative Activity: |
The prototype decision-support tool, SMART Vaccines, was delivered to the National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in early 2015. In support of the National Vaccine Action Plan, NVPO charged the IOM to develop a tool that reflected the dynamic and complex nature of decision-making among multiple stakeholders within the vaccine decision-making space—comprising the different interests, roles, and priorities of individuals engaged in vaccine research, research funding, purchasing, immunization programs, and policy.
The current design of the tool seeks to capture the components of this decision-making process and to model how those elements interact to ultimately influence how an individual or an organization might prioritize its strategic and financial investments in new research and targets for vaccines or newly available vaccines for introduction into national immunization schedules. By attempting to more uniformly define the components of the process and allowing individuals to rank the importance of each, the tool generates a score that allows for a comparison among different inputs of vaccine targets and/or existing vaccines and the impact of each on the resulting score.
NVPO and FIC are collaborating in support of both agencies’ missions related to developing and implementing strategies for increasing the prevention of human diseases through immunization.
As part of a process to build a fully functional tool, SMART Vaccines 2.0, the NVPO and FIC are engaging relevant stakeholder organizations and individuals to assist in the prototype’s transformation to a more widely-accessible, relevant, and responsive tool for use in support of prioritizing the scientific, technical, and financial commitments of decision makers in the broad vaccine development and delivery community.
Collaboration efforts support the following objectives:
1) Provision of capabilities to transform the existing SMART Vaccines tool to a web-based platform (html open-source model) that can be supported and sustained for public access;
2) Iterative adaptation and refinement of the tool -or suite of tools- that is responsive to:
- dynamic and emerging information/inputs (e.g., disease burden, antigen-specific technology, and economic data);
- ongoing assessment/validation of methodologies; and,
- user/stakeholder feedback
3) Expansion and updating of the data warehouse (model supporting data) and standardized formats for data sharing;
4) Dissemination and use of the tool (and/or derivative tools) supported by direct engagement and training of the public sector, academic, and private sector stakeholders and decision-makers associated with vaccine development, purchasing, and deployment/implementation programs; and,
5) Identifying an external hosting organization for the tool that is sustainable and provides global access to the tool by embedding it an infrastructure that utilizes existing resources for maintenance of standards and capabilities
To support these objectives, at least 2 piloting opportunities have been identified in which the relevant organizational stakeholders have agreed to utilize the SMART Vaccines 2.0 web-based tool in support of a targeted decision-making process. The focus of these decision-making efforts is related to the prioritization of resource-allocation for vaccine research and development and/or the introduction of new or existing vaccines into current immunization schedules. NVPO and FIC are supporting the following deliverables:
1) Provision of capabilities to utilize the web-based SMART Vaccines 2.0 platform in support of piloted applications;
2) Direct engagement of NVPO/FIC (and partner organizations) technical assets, staffing, and training in support of the pilot organization’s use of the SMART Vaccines 2.0 tool;
3) Modification and enhancement of the tool’s back-end model supporting algorithms and data-sourcing and acquisition capabilities for alignment with the pilot organizations specific decision-support needs;
4) Evaluation of the implementation and outcome of the piloted projects and the responsive of the SMART Vaccines 2.0 platform in this process;
5) Assessment of the long-term sustainability of the SMART Vaccines initiative based on the following:
- an evaluation of the tool produced from the pilot project and the feasibility of its on-going adaptation for other related decision-making processes;
- the opportunities and limitations associated with data availability in support of the SMART Vaccines approach;
- an evaluation of the likelihood of use by key decision-makers in the vaccine research, development, and delivery communities;
- the viability of commitments from external technical experts and organizations to continue to support the ongoing and dynamic modifications that will be required to adapt the SMART Vaccines tool for individual decision-making needs; and,
- the likelihood of external stakeholder funding opportunities to support the sustained human, technical, and financial needs required for long-term viability of a publicly accessible SMART Vaccines tool. |
