Covid-19 vaccines: safety surveillance manual - Introduction

Overview

On 30 January 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak due to a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, also known as COVID-19, was a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). By 12 March 2020, due to its rapid global spread, the outbreak was declared a pandemic. The pandemic has already caused the loss of more than 1.5 million lives1 and disrupted the lives of billions more. One essential strategy to control this pandemic is the rapid development of safe and effective vaccines. Unprecedented efforts are being made to develop large numbers of vaccines simultaneously, in a short time. Global equitable access to vaccines, particularly for protecting health care workers and those most-at-risk is one of the key strategies to mitigate the public health and economic impact of the pandemic.