Episode 08 Innovation in Healthcare podcast series 

“Vaccination as a tool continues to excite me and to sort of offer up really innovative, novel, effective, safe solutions to these horrible diseases.”

In this episode, Prof Samuel McConkey, Head of the Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine at the RCSI, and Consultant in General Medicine, Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Beaumont Hospital Dublin, and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, discusses the transformative potential of vaccination for human health, with Priscilla Lynch, Clinical Editor of the Medical Independent, and International Center for Journalism Health Innovation Journalism Fellow.  

Prof McConkey is Chair of the board of the European Vaccine Initiative, a leading European non-profit partnership that supports global efforts to develop effective and affordable vaccines against diseases of poverty and emerging infectious diseases that disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries. 

In this podcast, he highlights the successes of vaccination in tackling a huge range of diseases, and discusses the exciting ongoing advancements in new vaccination technology, such as mRNA vaccines, and their potential for preventing and treating cancers like melanoma and autoimmune diseases. 

In addition, Prof McConkey emphasises the importance of ensuring access to vaccines for those who need them the most, particularly in low-income countries, and highlights the challenges of vaccine rollout in very rural and conflict-affected areas. 

The conversation also touches on the importance of trust, communication, and sustained funding and support in advancing vaccine research and development.

This project was funded by the International Center for Journalists through the Health Innovation call.