Collaborating closely with the global scientific community, public health entities, governments, and industry stakeholders, IVI focuses on vaccine research and deployment.

Distinctively, IVI is mandated to concentrate exclusively on vaccine research and deployment tailored to populations in developing areas, with particular emphasis on combating diseases with a serious impact on public health in these regions.

Representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Panama, Republic of Korea, Romania, Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, and the World Health Organization were the first to sign the agreement, followed shortly thereafter by Senegal and Philippines.

[6] In 1997, more countries followed, with Brazil, China, Egypt, Israel, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tajikistan, and Turkey signing the Agreement.

A separate 1,300m² pilot plant facility, intended for the production of test lots of vaccines for training and evaluation purposes, was constructed but never completed due to a lack of funding.

From 2000 to 2006, IVI's DOMI program carried out vaccination campaigns, disease surveillance, and research studies in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Mozambique, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

DOMI Cholera operated from five study sites: Matlab, Bangladesh; North Jakarta, Indonesia; Kolkata, India; Beira, Mozambique; and Hue, Vietnam.

[13] IVI established the DOMI Shigellosis program with the ultimate goal of accelerating the development and introduction of a safe and protective shigella vaccine to control epidemic and endemic disease.

Between 2000 and 2004, the DOMI Shigella program ran disease surveillance sites in six locations across Southeast Asia: Dhaka, Bangladesh; Hebei, China; Karachi, Pakistan and neighboring villages; North Jakarta, Indonesia; Nha Trang, Vietnam; and Saraburi Province, Thailand.

Running from 1999 to 2010, the program conducted disease surveillance and economic studies in Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

From 2002 to 2010, PDVI operated in Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

From 2013 to 2015, with funding from Germany's Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF), IVI continued support for preclinical development of dengue vaccines by Brazil's Butantan Institute and Vietnam's VaBiotech.

[18] As of January 2019, IVI includes 35 countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) as signatories to its Establishment Agreement: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Malta, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and the World Health Organization.