Using economic and social data to improve veterinary vaccine development: Learning lessons from human vaccinology

The drivers of vaccine development are many and varied. They include, for example, recognition of the burden of a vaccine-targeted disease, prioritisation of the multiple problems associated with a disease, consideration of the differing socio-economic situations under which vaccines are used, the influence of advocacy groups, and assessment of the feasibility of large-scale vaccine manufacture and distribution. In the field of human health, data-driven development of vaccines is becoming increasingly common through the availability of reliable information on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) and stringent evaluations of vaccination programmes utilising empirical data on costing and effectiveness, and standardised cost-effectiveness thresholds. The data generated from such analyses allow policymakers, implementing partners, industries and researchers to make decisions based on the best, and most contextually relevant, available evidence. In this paper, we wish to explore the current use of economic and social data for the development of veterinary vaccines. Through comparison with the development of human vaccines, we will look for opportunities in animal health sciences to better integrate socio-economic data and analyses into the process of veterinary vaccine selection, development, and field implementation. We believe that more robust animal health impact assessments could add value to veterinary vaccine development by improving resource allocation and animal disease management.