Hepatitis Vaccines: Immunization, Effectiveness and Future Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

Viral hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver, is caused by a viral infection and remains a major human health problem worldwide. Many different viruses cause viral hepatitis, which includes, in alphabetical order, hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. The hepatitis A and E viruses typically cause acute infections, whereas hepatitis B, C, and D viruses cause both acute and chronic infections. While acute hepatitis is resolved within 3–6 months, chronic infections can last longer than 6 months and in severe cases can subsequently lead to life-threatening liver complications. Out of the approximately 1.4 million deaths each year resulting from this infection, HBV and HCV are responsible for about 90% of these fatalities, whilst the remaining 10% of fatalities are caused by other hepatitis viruses. WHO's global hepatitis strategy aims to reduce new hepatitis infections by 90% and deaths by 65% between 2016 and 2030. To reduce the morbidity and mortality, protective vaccination for these hepatitis viruses remains the main goal of public health policy and is a key component of the global viral hepatitis elimination plan.

With this aim, in this Special Issue, we will summarize the current knowledge and aim to answer some of the many questions on viral hepatitis, their prevention through vaccination, vaccine effectiveness, and future challenges in this field. We invite the submission of original research and review articles that cover any aspect of viral hepatitis, prevention through vaccines, prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines, vaccine development and technology, vaccine immunity, etc.

Dr. Muhammad Atif Zahoor
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• viral hepatitis, viral evolution, and genetic diversity
• prevention of viral hepatitis through effective vaccines
• prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines
• vaccine technology and vaccination strategies
• vaccine development and efficacy evaluation
• vaccine immunity and re-infections, escape variants
• vaccine failures and challenges
• viral immunology, B-cell and T-cell immune responses, T- and B-cell exhaustions