The International Society for Vaccines is an organization that engages, supports, and sustains the professional goals of a diverse membership in all areas relevant to vaccines.

AIMS
To encourage, establish and promote the development and the use of vaccines to prevent and control infectious and non-infectious diseases in humans and animals.
To develop a professional and academic society devoted to all aspects of vaccines.

The Society may be said to have begun at the meeting between Ray Spier and Peter Nara when the former suggested to the latter that a society focussing on issues of vaccines and vaccination should be formed with Peter Nara as its first leader or President. This occurred during a conference on Modern Approaches to New Vaccines that was held at Cold Spring Harbor in September, 1992. Fred Brown who chaired one of the sessions at the conference allowed us to address the conferees to assess the strength of the demand for such a Society. We were rewarded with a clear indication that the participants would welcome the development of such a Society; so we set to work. It was a busy time. Pete did most of the work in approaching numerous companies and agencies for funding while Ray focused on getting the news of the existence of the society round to build up a membership. An article was published in Vaccine (12:1052 in August 1994) and we established a secretariat with the help of Jack Acuff. The idea was that the secretariat would handle the membership, the fees and would seek grants while the society committee would deal with those aspects of the society that progressed the objectives of the society. During these developments, Pete contacted Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) at Waltham MA. The President of that Institute, Phillips Kuhl was most enthusiastic about the possibilities that would ensue were the Society and the Institute to join forces and set up and run a vaccine conference. The Institute was already well down the line of such a venture and the additional input of the Society (membership list and suggestions for speakers) would be welcomed.