Our History - 30 Years of OVG
From a small team working out of an office at the John Radcliffe Hospital in 1994, to a world renowned organisation with researchers working around the globe today, this page charts the history of the Oxford Vaccine Group over the last 30 years.
1994
Oxford Vaccine Group was established in 1994 by Professor E. Richard Moxon in the Department of Paediatrics at Oxford University following extensive consultation with the University. Prior to the formal approval of its name by the University, studies on Hib vaccine had been conducted by Professor Moxon’s team which had provided important data for the introduction of the vaccine in the UK immunisation schedule in 1992. The case was made to the University for the importance of vaccines in public health and anticipated developments in technology which would advance vaccine development and evaluation.
The original terms of reference (simplified) for OVG in 1994 were to:
- Provide a scientific resource for research into the development and implementation of vaccines.
- Undertake basic and applied research on diseases for which there is no vaccine: meningococcal sepsis, AIDS, malaria
- Be a clinical referral service for adverse events and immunisation in special circumstances
- Conduct phase II safety and immunogenicity trials and develop a resource for phase I trials
- Develop laboratory expertise in microbiology and immunology
- Provide a platform for Education and advocacy
- Establish a new building at the Churchill Hospital site
OVG was originally run from an office on level 4 of the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford and a small team of research fellows and nurses conducted epidemiological studies and clinical trials in children focussing on Hib and meningococcal vaccines.
2001
Andrew Pollard was recruited in 2001 to lead OVG and take on the clinical trials activities of the team, but was keen to expand the capabilities of the research team by setting up an OVG laboratory (made possible by a recently vacated physical space of a laboratory near to the trial office), and to develop clinical paediatric infectious disease and teaching. The aim of the laboratory was to use cutting edge immunology to better understand the development of immunity in infants and young children, with vaccines as a tool to explore the immune system.
Image : Opening of CCVTM in 2003 by Lord May
2004
During the first 5 years in CCVTM, new clinical trials regulations came into effect (2004) following a European Directive on clinical trials, and OVG had already developed the capabilities to meet the new standards through a growing infrastructure around clinical trial management and governance.
2007
OVG also became the only UKCRC (established 2007) registered clinical trials unit (CTU) focussed on vaccines (registration number: 52) see ukcrc-ctu.org.uk. The CTU runs as a collaborative with the University’s Primary Healthcare Department and the Jenner Institute.
2008
In 2008 Oxford was awarded funding from the UK Department of Health for a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), which included a vaccines theme co-led by Professor Adrian Hill and Professor Andrew Pollard. At the same time the NIHR set a national Clinical Research Network which provided funding to support clinical research across the UK - these two initiatives provided funding for key staff and led to a substantial increase in capability and an increase in research activity, trial recruitment, staff numbers and output.
Also in 2008, Professor Pollard set up Vaccsline to provide vaccine advice for medical staff across the Thames Valley region – this was run as a service funded by OVG in collaboration with regional public health services and a team of vaccine nurses ran the telephone and email consultation service before the service was incorporated entirely into the UK Health Security Agency prior to the pandemic. During the same period the Vaccine Knowledge Project was established to provide web-based information for the public and today receives millions of hits per year from almost every country in the world.
Staff Growth
By 2010 OVG had grown from less than 10 researchers in 2000 to 60 research staff (including medical doctors, scientists, nurses and trials administration) based in CCVTM and since then OVG has continued to expand with over 200 staff and students in 2024.
Image : CCVTM laboratory block named the Moxon building in 2013
25 Years of Training
OVG has had a major focus on training over the past 25 years, with an annual immunisation seminar provided for health professionals across the Thames Valley and training courses for practice nurses provided by OVG nurses. An annual course on infection and immunity in children (iic – the Oxford Course) runs each year targeting trainees in paediatric infectious disease, and OVG hosts the Oxford University postgraduate certificate, diploma and Msc in Paediatric Infectious Disease. This focus will continue with the opening in 2024 of the Clinical Trials Training Centre in Rio.
Research Interests and Response Capabilities
From 2001 to 2020, OVG had a major core interest on childhood vaccines against encapsulated bacteria with a particular focus on meningococcus, pneumococcus and typhoid with major contributions to national and international policy and understanding of the nature of immunity induced by these vaccines. However, the expertise in clinical trials led to many additional studies on vaccines for other pathogens including influenza, RSV, Ebola, rabies and others. Several new vaccines were developed during this period in the OVG laboratory and tested in phase I human trials including two group B meningococcal vaccines (outer membrane vesicles and viral vectors) and a vaccine against plague, and in collaboration with partners, new vaccines against RSV and Ebola. OVG also pioneered the use of human challenge models to support vaccine development for typhoid and paratyphoid, work which has now expanded since 2022 to include pneumococcus, RSV, and plans for influenza and malaria. The typhoid vaccine was rolled out following WHO guidance in 2018 and since 2022 some 60 million doses have been deployed.
OVG has hosted the National Immunisation Schedules Evaluation Consortium (NISEC, initially led by Professor Matthew Snape and now by Professor Maheshi Ramasamy) for the past decade which is funded by the Department of Health to conduct research to support UK policy. Studies have included evaluation of a 1+1 pneumococcal vaccine schedule and testing of new hexavalent infant vaccines in the UK schedule.
OVGs capabilities have been important in the response to outbreaks with research on H5N1 vaccines with Sanofi Pasteur in 2006, a major response to H1N1 pandemic in 2009 funded by the UK Government to evaluate vaccines for children, and research on novel Ebola vaccines funded by EC in 2015/16 in response to the West Africa outbreak, contributing to the licensure of the Johnson and Johnson Ebola vaccine.
In 2020, OVG took on leadership of the clinical development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine and led a team, with collaborators, of some 2000 researchers across UK, South Africa and Brazil which provided the pivotal data for the global licensure of the vaccine (initially registered in 180 countries) with over 3 billion doses deployed. The vaccine is said by AirFinity to have saved 6.3 million lives in 2021 alone. Since the pandemic, OVG has developed an expanded portfolio with new investigators joining the team as described below. The current programme led by each individual is described in the PI snapshot sections, but includes research on vaccines for bacterial diseases and viral outbreak pathogens, vaccines for childhood diseases, human challenge studies (respiratory, enteric and malaria), and underpinned by cutting edge immunology. The laboratory expansion means that additional laboratory space was acquired in 2022 in the Institute for Developmental and Regenerative Medicine and an expansion in clinical space in CCVTM was opened in 2023.
Social sciences research, ethics and philosophy have all featured in OVGs portfolio since 2001, but this is now formalised under the leadership of Professor Vanderslott who coordinates the Vaccines in Society unit launched in 2023.
In 2005, OVG began collaborations with clinicians in Nepal and an extensive programme has continued there over the past 18 years covering studies on Hib, pneumococcus and typhoid. International collaborations prior to the pandemic included Bangladesh (typhoid) and pandemic partners were in Kenya, South Africa and Brazil. Currently there are multiple partnerships in Africa across the portfolio.