WHO: Prequalification to make high-quality, safe and affordable vaccines
Feature article
April 2013
http://www.who.int/features/2013/vaccine_prequalification/en/index.html

Excerpt
WHO’s vaccine prequalification programme ensures that the vaccines received by two thirds of the world’s babies are high-quality, safe and affordable.

Every year, more than 2.5 billion doses of vaccines are used globally to immunize children under 10 years old. Immunization is key to protecting children from many deadly diseases, including polio, measles, diphtheria, and tetanus. But it only works if vaccine quality and safety can be assured and consistent, and it can only be carried out if vaccines are affordable. So in 1987, WHO introduced a vaccine prequalification programme, initially as a service to UNICEF and other UN purchasing agencies. Today, that programme is the only one in the world to facilitate international harmonization of vaccine production standards…