What Is the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and What Does It Do?

Updated

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is an international organization for vaccine research and development and delivery, headquartered in Seoul, Korea. It describes itself as uniquely present at every step of the vaccine value chain—discover, develop, deliver, and build capacity—with the stated aim of advancing vaccine equity, impact, and sustainability globally. If you want to understand who IVI is, what it actually works on, and how organizations or individuals can engage with it, the sections below cover each of those questions.

What IVI is

IVI is not a manufacturer or a regulator. Its own framing places it as an international organization focused on vaccine R&D and delivery, working across the full chain rather than at a single stage. Its mission statement emphasizes discovering, developing, and delivering safe, effective, and affordable vaccines.

Two practical implications follow from that positioning:

  • It works on vaccines that may not attract purely commercial development. The affordability and equity language in its mission points toward diseases where market incentives alone are weak.
  • It spans research through delivery. Many research institutes stop at publication or proof of concept; IVI's stated scope extends to delivery and capacity building, which is where field implementation and training come in.

What IVI does: the four-stage value chain

IVI organizes its work around four stages, and this is the clearest way to describe its activities:

Stage What it covers
Discover Early-stage vaccine research
Develop Moving candidates toward usable vaccines
Deliver Getting vaccines to the populations that need them
Build Capacity Training and strengthening systems so countries can sustain vaccine work

The "build capacity" stage is easy to overlook but shows up concretely in IVI's programs. IVI marked 25 years of its International Vaccinology Course, described as global training connecting Seoul, Kigali, and Stockholm—an example of capacity building operating as a multi-site training program rather than a one-off workshop.

Disease areas and focus

IVI's public materials reference work on several infectious diseases, including:

  • Cholera — the blog notes the conclusion of ECHO-M, described as advancing sustainable cholera prevention and control in Mozambique.
  • Strep A — a blog post describes a traditional gift capturing the impact of Strep A surveillance.
  • Typhoid — referenced in IVI's focus areas alongside cholera and Strep A.

These examples are useful because they show the pattern: surveillance, prevention and control programs, and sustained country-level work, not just laboratory research. If your interest is in a specific disease, the disease area is a better entry point than the organization's general structure.

Partnerships and collaboration

IVI works through formal partnerships. Two examples from its announcements:

  • IVI and Karolinska Institutet signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen existing cooperation in vaccine research and education.
  • The IVI-KVS Young Scientist Award recognized Prof. Soo-Jin Jung of Sogang University as its second recipient.

For an institution considering collaboration, the pattern to note is that IVI's partnerships tend to combine research and education or training components, and they are formalized through instruments like MoUs and named awards. A university, research group, or health ministry exploring a relationship would reasonably expect the same shape: a defined joint activity in research, training, or both.

How to follow or support IVI

IVI offers a few direct ways to engage, based on its site:

  • Subscribe to the mailing list — the site has a subscription field for news updates (with a Korean-language prompt, 새소식 구독하기, alongside it).
  • Read the annual report — IVI points to its 2025 Annual Report for a fuller picture of activities and results.
  • Donate — the site includes a donation call framed as helping make vaccines a reality for all.
  • Follow news, announcements, and the blog — these carry partnership news, program completions, and field stories.

One caution: the site's donation and subscription options do not by themselves indicate that IVI's services, training, or materials are free or open to everyone. If you are considering applying to a course, proposing a partnership, or requesting data, check the specific program page or contact IVI directly rather than assuming terms from the homepage.

Quick orientation

  • What it is: an international vaccine R&D and delivery organization based in Seoul.
  • What it does: discover, develop, deliver, and build capacity across the vaccine value chain.
  • What it works on: infectious disease prevention, with named examples including cholera, typhoid, and Strep A.
  • How to engage: partnerships and MoUs, training programs like the International Vaccinology Course, mailing list subscription, annual report, and donations.