A global perspective on vaccine safety and public health: the global advisory committee on vaccine safety.

Folb PI, Bernatowska E, Chen R, Clemens J, Dodoo AN, Ellenberg SS, Farrington CP, John TJ, Lambert PH, Macdonald NE, Miller E, Salisbury D, Schmitt HJ, Siegrist CA, Wimalaratne O.

Medical Research Council, PO Box 19070, Tygerberg, 7505, Cape Town, South Africa. pfolb@mrc.ac.za.

Established in 1999, the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety advises the World Health Organization (WHO) on vaccine-related safety issues and enables WHO to respond promptly, efficiently, and with scientific rigor to issues of vaccine safety with potential global importance. The committee also assesses the implications of vaccine safety for practice worldwide and for WHO policies. We describe the principles on which the committee was established, its modus operandi, and the scope of the work undertaken, both present and future. We highlight its recent recommendations on major issues, including the purported link between the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autism and the safety of the mumps, influenza, yellow fever, BCG, and smallpox vaccines as well as that of thiomersal-containing vaccines.