Ethical, Legal, and Social Aspects of Vaccine Research and Vaccination Policies in Europe
Contract: BIOMED2 BMH4 98 3197

The Project

The EURO ELSAV project is a EU funded project which aims to analyse the major reasons for ethical, legal, and social concerns surrounding vaccine policies in research and public health. Eventually the project aims to establish a European Multidisciplinary Network devoted to monitoring emerging ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSA) of new vaccines and vaccination policies.
The important changes that have occurred in vaccination - due to new molecular biology and the better understanding of the immune system – make up the background of the project. The ability to manipulate DNA, the ability to synthesise oligopeptides and "package" them in different ways, the development of new adjuvants, the ability to enhance the type and persistence of the immune response, have overturned conventional views on vaccination.