Event preview: Celebrating 5 Years of VAC4EU

In this event preview, we look ahead to Celebrating 5 Years of VAC4EU, taking place on November 4, 2025 in Brussels. Bringing together leaders from regulatory, public health, academic, and industry communities, the event will reflect on lessons learned in real-world evidence (RWE) generation and discuss future priorities for vaccine monitoring and pandemic preparedness.

VAC4EU will mark its fifth anniversary this November with a special event in Brussels, “Advancing Real-World Evidence for Vaccine Monitoring towards Future Pandemic Preparedness.” The celebration reflects on five years of collaborative progress in building a sustainable RWE infrastructure for vaccine monitoring in Europe.

Formed in 2020 from the foundations of the IMI-funded ADVANCE project, VAC4EU was created to put into practice an ecosystem for transparent, public–private collaboration in vaccine safety and effectiveness monitoring – just as the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. Since then, its 28 member institutions have worked to strengthen Europe’s ability to generate timely, high-quality RWE to support public health decision-making.

The event will open with remarks from VAC4EU President and Co-Founder Miriam Sturkenboom, who will offer a founders’ perspective on the network’s evolution and vision. “From the very beginning, our vision has been clear: to bring together public and private partners in a trusted, collaborative ecosystem that can generate the RWE Europe needs in times of both preparedness and crisis,” she explains.

Peter Arlett, Head of the Data Analytics and Methods Task Force at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), will also address the importance of sustained collaboration in this field:

“Monitoring the safety and effectiveness of vaccines is a critical public health function. We need to be prepared with secure real-world data access and tested scientific protocols. VAC4EU plays an important role in vaccine preparedness.”

Key sessions during the day’s program include “Lessons learnt on RWE generation in Europe in the past five years,” moderated by Rosa Gini (VAC4EU Vice President), which will bring together diverse perspectives from across the RWE landscape. Speakers include Peter Arlett (European Medicines Agency, EMA) providing the regulatory viewpoint, Heather Rubino (Pfizer) offering an industry perspective, Susana Perez-Gutthann (RTI Health Solutions) representing the VAC4EU Principal Investigator perspective, Emilie Karafillakis (Vaccine Confidence Project) discussing vaccine confidence, and Felipe Villalobos (IDIAP Jordi Gol) sharing insights from the VAC4EU DEAP initiative.

A forward-looking second session, “Where should we focus?”, moderated by Miriam Sturkenboom, will explore priorities for future collaboration and preparedness. It will feature Rebecca Chandler (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) providing a global perspective, Niklas Blomberg (Innovative Health Initiative, IHI) discussing European research collaboration, Charlotte Vernhes (Vaccines Europe) offering an industry association viewpoint, Maria Dutarte (European Patients’ Academy on Therapeutic Innovation, EUPATI) representing the patient perspective, Laura Cornelissen (Sciensano) sharing public health insights, and Jean Michel Dogne (Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee, PRAC) contributing the Belgian regulatory perspective.

The event will combine in-person sessions at the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium with an online livestream.

Reflecting on this milestone, Miriam Sturkenboom concludes: “Today, we celebrate not only our achievements, but the spirit of collaboration that has made them possible. By consolidating and scaling our infrastructure, VAC4EU has become a vital engine for innovation, trust, and shared responsibility in vaccine monitoring and evidence generation. Our journey is proof that when public and private sectors unite, we can create sustainable solutions for evidence generation that strengthen decision making by health systems across Europe, now, and for the future.”

Register to attend:

In person Online