INNOVATE: Building Trust in Vaccines, Protecting Communities
Vaccine safety is a cornerstone of public health. Yet in many low- and middle-income countries, monitoring systems rely on passive reporting, meaning serious events like hospitalizations or deaths after vaccination may be misunderstood as vaccine-related, even when they are coincidental. This can erode public trust. INNOVATE is a global initiative designed to strengthen vaccine safety monitoring. By collecting background data on deaths and hospitalizations, and comparing them with events after vaccination, INNOVATE provides clear evidence to distinguish coincidence from true vaccine-related risks.
What We’re Building
INNOVATE is more than a research project, it is a global safety net for vaccines.
We are building a multi-country research network across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, including India, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, and Brazil. At each site, community-based surveillance of 50,000 people tracks hospitalizations, deaths, and vaccination history. Sentinel hospitals monitor rare but serious conditions such as Guillain-Barré Syndrome, myocarditis, and clotting disorders. All of this data feeds into a shared system that supports governments, researchers, and vaccine producers in ensuring safety. Together, these elements create a robust platform for evidence-based action.
Why It Matters
Vaccines save millions of lives, but public confidence can be shaken by misinformation or coincidental events. INNOVATE matters because it builds trust in vaccines through transparent monitoring, strengthens preparedness for future pandemics in line with CEPI’s 100-day vaccine goal, empowers health systems with reliable data to respond quickly to safety concerns, and protects communities by ensuring vaccines remain safe and trusted. This initiative is about safeguarding both lives and confidence.
Primary Beneficiaries
INNOVATE is designed for the people who shape vaccine confidence every day.
Communities and families gain reassurance about vaccine safety. Healthcare providers receive evidence to guide conversations with patients. Policymakers and public health leaders benefit from reliable data to design national immunization strategies. Together, these groups form the foundation of trust in vaccines.
Engagement Framework
Lasting trust requires more than data, it needs dialogue and collaboration. INNOVATE builds this through community engagement that helps people understand the difference between coincidence and causation, healthcare provider support with tools to explain vaccine safety clearly, global collaboration so lessons learned in one country strengthen practices worldwide, and transparent communication that turns complex data into accessible public messages. This framework ensures that evidence is not only collected but shared in ways that build confidence.
Collaborators
INNOVATE is a collective effort led by international partners, working closely with governments, universities, and hospitals across six countries. Together, they form a global alliance to safeguard vaccine safety and strengthen public trust.
INNOVATE is not only a research initiative, it is a movement to protect communities, strengthen trust, and ensure vaccines remain a foundation of global health. By distinguishing coincidence from causation, INNOVATE provides clarity where uncertainty can breed fear. We invite communities, healthcare providers, and policymakers to join this shared commitment because together, we can build trust in vaccines and protect the health of future generations.