Episode 16: Geert Vanden Bossche

VSRF talks with expert immunologist Geert Vanden Bossche about the devastating effects of mass vaccination during an active pandemic of a rapidly mutating virus. Dr. Vanden Bossche received his DVM from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and his PhD in Virology from the University of Hohenheim, Germany. After his career in Academia, Geert joined several vaccine companies (GSK Biologicals, Novartis Vaccines, Solvay Biologicals) to serve various roles in vaccine Research & Development.

Geert later joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Discovery team in the U.S. as Senior Program Officer; he then worked with Gates's Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) in Geneva as Senior Ebola Program Manager. At GAVI he tracked efforts to develop an Ebola vaccine. He also represented GAVI in fora with other partners, including WHO, to build plans for global pandemic preparedness.

Back in 2015, Geert scrutinized and questioned the safety of the Ebola vaccine that was used in ring vaccination trials conducted by WHO in Guinea. His critical scientific report on the data published by WHO in the Lancet in 2015 was sent to all international health and regulatory authorities involved in the Ebola vaccination program. After working for GAVI, Geert joined the German Center for Infection Research in Cologne as Head of the Vaccine Development Office. He is at present primarily serving as a Biotech/Vaccine consultant while conducting his own research on natural killer cell-based vaccines.

Find Dr. Vanden Bossche online at Voice for Science and Solidarity. Contact him at info@voiceforscienceandsolidarity.org.