Vaccine Development: Finding A Vaccine for COVID-19 and Future Pandemics (FutureLearn)

Discover how new vaccines are developed
Vaccines are instrumental in protecting people against infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The current situation with COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of vaccines and the difficulty in developing them in a timely but safe manner.
On this course, you’ll learn about the role and development process for new vaccines, from manufacturing to vaccine safety and testing.
You’ll consider the value of vaccine intervention within the patient pathway, and learn how to assess the efficiency of a vaccine for preventing infection or disease.

Find out more about the COVID-19 vaccine development process
The challenges of vaccine development have never been more apparent to the public than during this global pandemic.
As you explore how vaccines are used to control pandemics, you’ll examine the current COVID-19 vaccines in development and learn how they’re being produced and tested.

Explore the latest vaccine research with the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC)
This course offers the chance to learn from BSAC’s global faculty of experts who will provide up-to-date content and insights on their individual areas of expertise.
Providing a number of courses on FutureLearn, BSAC are experienced in providing engaging and informative online courses for healthcare professionals around the world to improve their practical skills and understanding.

Syllabus

Week 1: Vaccine Development
Week 2: Vaccine Safety & Efficacy
Week 3: Vaccine Deployment & Preparation for the Future

Learning on this course
You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

• Discuss why and when new vaccines are developed and identify the characteristics of an ideal vaccine
• Describe how new vaccines are developed and manufactured
• Explain how vaccine safety is assessed and monitored
• Explore the difference between vaccine efficacy and effectiveness, and understand how these are measured
• Identify how vaccines are used to control outbreaks and pandemics
• Investigate the different COVID-19 vaccine candidates and how they are being developed and tested

Who is the course for?
This course is for healthcare professionals working in any setting and individuals interested in gaining more knowledge on vaccines and how they save lives.
It would also appeal to anyone interested in the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.