Vaccine accelerators — multi-disciplinary, multi-partner initiatives that provide targeted support to expedite national vaccine introductions — have helped close a historically wide gap between when vaccines become available in high-income countries (HICs) and when they reach children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). But the vertical, single-antigen design that made early accelerators effective is increasingly mismatched to a landscape in which countries must prioritize across dozens of vaccines within fixed budget envelopes. Our new report examines what accelerators have offered in the past and what they may still offer in this changed vaccination landscape.

Looking ahead, we recommend applying a higher bar before standing up a new accelerator: dedicated, time-bound, vertical support seen more as the exception to the model, warranted only where a vaccine is genuinely deemed as high-impact; faces a demand, financing, or supply barrier that country and core partner systems cannot resolve on their own; and requires unique capability surge support. Where that bar isn’t met — as is increasingly the norm — the same underlying competencies are better delivered in line with the broader global health architectural shift towards localization: lighter, cross- cutting country-embedded support that helps governments prioritize across a full portfolio or antigens and available products, helps provide the decision making and technical support to drive more integrated vaccine uptake and coverage rather than introduction alone, and builds lasting local and regional capacity.

Read more in our latest publication, The role of vaccine accelerators in expediting vaccine introductions in LMICs​.