Dr James Mbinta is a Research Fellow at the School of Health. His role involves overseeing multiple workstreams, creating and refining plans, and then implementing those plans to ensure the successful delivery of research outputs. This includes collaborating with various local and international research partners as well as stakeholders such as Te Whatu Ora and ESR. His research focuses on analysing the epidemiology, effectiveness, and safety of vaccines in real-world clinical settings, such as the "Covid-19 Vaccine Evaluation (CoVE) in Aotearoa New Zealand". By understanding how vaccines perform in routine medical practice, we can maximise their impact and minimise the burden of vaccine-preventable diseases.

His PhD thesis titled “An Evaluation of the Epidemiology, Vaccine Effectiveness and Vaccine Safety of Herpes Zoster Vaccination” significantly contributed to vaccine epidemiology, with a focus on Aotearoa New Zealand. To date, the thesis has produced four publications (1 systematic review protocol, BMJ Open; 1 systematic review and meta-analysis, Lancet Healthy Longevity; 1 retrospective matched cohort study using linked database data, Lancet Regional Health Western Pacific; 1 self-controlled case series study; Nature Communications), one primary research paper, six conference presentations, and ten interviews. He has equally co-authored an editorial for BMJ titled “Long term effectiveness of live herpes zoster vaccine.” These findings show that herpes zoster vaccines are safe and effective in preventing herpes zoster and associated complications in clinical practice.