Report of the Forty-ninth meeting (hybrid) of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety 27–28 November 2025
Loading...
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
World Health Organization
Abstract
Description
6 p.
This article summarizes the discussions and recommendations of the Forty-ninth meeting of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS), held in November 2025. It reviews current evidence on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, including repeated-dose vaccination, vaccination during pregnancy, myocarditis, protein-based vaccines, and ongoing pharmacovigilance as COVID-19 vaccination transitions to an endemic setting. The report also presents updates to the WHO Vaccine Safety Net membership criteria, examines the evidence regarding vaccines and autism, and describes progress in developing methodologies and electronic tools for causality assessment of adverse events following maternal immunization and for estimating background rates of adverse events of special interest in low- and middle-income countries. The report further reviews post-marketing safety data for recently introduced vaccines, including chikungunya vaccines and the tetravalent dengue vaccine Qdenga®, highlighting identified safety signals, pharmacovigilance findings, and risk management activities. It outlines recommendations to strengthen vaccine safety surveillance, improve communication, expand evidence generation through registries and observational studies, and support evidence-informed regulatory and immunization policy decisions. The report emphasizes the importance of sustained global collaboration, robust pharmacovigilance systems, and transparent safety monitoring to maintain confidence in immunization programmes and guide the safe introduction and use of vaccines.
37
42
This article summarizes the discussions and recommendations of the Forty-ninth meeting of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS), held in November 2025. It reviews current evidence on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, including repeated-dose vaccination, vaccination during pregnancy, myocarditis, protein-based vaccines, and ongoing pharmacovigilance as COVID-19 vaccination transitions to an endemic setting. The report also presents updates to the WHO Vaccine Safety Net membership criteria, examines the evidence regarding vaccines and autism, and describes progress in developing methodologies and electronic tools for causality assessment of adverse events following maternal immunization and for estimating background rates of adverse events of special interest in low- and middle-income countries. The report further reviews post-marketing safety data for recently introduced vaccines, including chikungunya vaccines and the tetravalent dengue vaccine Qdenga®, highlighting identified safety signals, pharmacovigilance findings, and risk management activities. It outlines recommendations to strengthen vaccine safety surveillance, improve communication, expand evidence generation through registries and observational studies, and support evidence-informed regulatory and immunization policy decisions. The report emphasizes the importance of sustained global collaboration, robust pharmacovigilance systems, and transparent safety monitoring to maintain confidence in immunization programmes and guide the safe introduction and use of vaccines.
37
42