Risk-aware artificial intelligence for translational vaccine design

Artificial intelligence has accelerated epitope and antigen discovery, but prediction alone cannot determine vaccine readiness. Translational design requires risk-aware prioritization that connects immunogenicity with protection, population human leukocyte antigen (HLA) coverage, safety, immune correlates, model uncertainty, interpretability, and experimental feasibility. This review proposes a framework for advancing, deprioritizing, or experimentally validating candidates before costly downstream development.