Preface: The 1st International Electronic Conference on Vaccines—RNA Vaccines, Current Challenges and Future Developments

1. Introduction

1.1. Conference Introduction

The 1st International Electronic Conference on Vaccines: RNA Vaccines, Current Challenges and Future Developments (IECV 2023), was held on 1–15 December 2023. It was an online event, organized by MDPI and Vaccines MDPI at https://sciforum.net/event/IECV2023.

mRNA vaccines have been developed and trialled for cancers and infectious diseases. Although the success of mRNA vaccines has been achieved in the control of COVID-19, there are challenges for their future development. The production of mRNA vaccines requires multiple steps, including mRNA synthesis, purification, and formulation with, e.g., lipid nanoparticles. Therefore, the stability of intermediate and final products during storage and transportation is a real problem. Breakthrough infections of SARS-CoV-2 variants and the immune evasion of cancers driven by the mutation of antigens expressed from mRNA are the major challenges in development. Since mRNA vaccines have shown advantages compared to others due to the induction of humoral and cellular immune responses and adaptability in viral and tumour antigens, future vaccines should be stabler, safer, and more compatible with other regimens in combination with other options.

1.2. Scopes and Topics

All vaccine-related scientists or researchers are welcome to join this event and share their findings around the following general and related themes including the following:

• Vaccines to counter anti-microbial resistance.
• Vaccines to eradicate endemic disease-opportunities and challenges.
• Vaccines to prevent zoonotic transmission-targeting the animal reservoir.
• Vaccine platforms—advantages and disadvantages.
• Clinical trial design for reactive and preventive vaccination.
• Vaccine deployment in outbreak settings—lessons learned
• Advances in vaccine formulation and adjuvantisation.
• Clinical view on routinisation of RNA vaccines.
• How do we prepare for vaccines against the as-yet unknown?
• COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.
• Immune response after vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with chronic diseases.
• T cell responses in SARS-CoV-2.
• SARS-CoV-2 variant and vaccines’ development.
• Novel technology and vaccines’ development for COVID-19.
• T cell immunity and HIV-1 pathogenicity.
• Neurological complications following COVID-19 infection and COVID-19 vaccination.
• Vaccine hesitancy.
• Vaccine safety.
• Vaccine ingredients.
• Vaccine schedule.
• Vaccine objections.
• Vaccines influence on education.
• Cost-effectiveness of vaccines.
• Vaccine transportation.
• Methods of vaccination.
• Vaccine-related policy.

1.3. Program and Schedule

More information can be found at https://sciforum.net/event/IECV2023?section=#livesessions (accessed on 27 March 2024).

2. Chairs and Committee Members

2.1. Event Chairs

• Prof. Dr. François Meurens, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal, Canada.
• Dr. Fanny Renois, INRAE, Oniris, BIOEPAR, France.

2.2. Session Chairs

• Dr. Silvio Tafuri, Aldo Moro University of Bari, Italy.
• Prof. Dr. Martin J. D’Souza, Mercer University, USA.
• Dr. Siddappa N. Byrareddy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, USA.
• Dr. Daniel Dory, ANSES, France.
• Dr. Angelos Hatzakis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Greece.

2.3. Event Committees

• Dr. Dimitris Zavras, University of West Attica, Greece.
• Dr. Miaomiao Shi, University of Chicago, USA.
• Dr. Gagandeep Saggu; Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, USA.
• Dr. Gregory Simons, Turiba University, Latvia.
• Dr. Evangelia Stalika, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki/International Hellenic University, Greece.
• Dr. Mark Znin, The University of Hong Kong. Hongkong.
• Dr. Jon Salmanton-García, University of Cologne, Germany.
• Dr. Yin Li, Yangzhou University, China.
• Dr. Carrie Long, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, USA.

3. Speakers

3.1. Keynote Speaker

• Prof. Dr. Ger Rijkers, University College Roosevelt/St. Elisabeth Hospital, The Netherlands.

3.2. Invited Speakers

• Prof. Dr. Hidehiro Fukuyama, Kansai Medical School, Japan.
• Prof. Dr. S. Louise Cosby, Queen’s University Belfast, UK.
• Prof. Dr. Ranjit Ray, Saint Louis University, USA.
• Prof. Dr. Silvio Tafuri, Aldo Moro University of Bari, Italy.
• Prof. Dr. Vishwanath Venketaraman, Western University of Health Sciences, USA.

4. Statement of Peer Review

In submitting conference proceedings to Medical Sciences Forum, the volume editors of the proceedings certify to the publisher that all papers published in this volume were subjected to peer review administered by the volume editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal.

• Type of peer review: single blind.
• Conference submission management system: sciforum.
• Number of submissions sent for review: 64.
• Number of submissions accepted: 6.
• Number of published: 4.
• Acceptance rate (number of submissions accepted/number of submissions received): 9.3%.
• Average number of reviews per paper: 1.
• Total number of reviewers involved: 10.
• Peer review criteria and process: peer review policy and guidelines can be found at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/msf/instruction_for_conference_organizers.