On December 16th and 17th, 2021, the Spanish Society of Immunology (SEI) and the University of Alicante (UA) will join forces to organize the first International Symposium on Immunology and Health, in Alicante, Spain. This symposium will bring together a group of internationally recognized immunologists, microbiologists, molecular biologists, epidemiologists, virologists and professionals from a wide range of disciplines  in the biomedical field, to present and discuss the most recent results of their scientific work. The main objective of this annual symposium is to promote the development and advancement of the study of immunology, infectious diseases and vaccinology as well as Life and Health Sciences. By bringing these experts together the Symposium aims to accelerate the  development of novel approaches to disease prevention.

In the last year, Spain has been one of the countries most affected by the severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This pandemic has had an unprecedented economic, social, health and scientific impact and represents an unparalleled challenge in modern history: the initiation of a world-wide vaccination campaign against an emerging virus for which no previous vaccine existed.

This international symposium aims to address strategies for the COVID-19 response and pandemic preparedness, the development of the vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and the immunological response to infection and different COVID-19 vaccines.