Building Better Immunity: a life course approach to healthy longevity

For the first time in 2019, the Americas reported more adults aged 65 or older than children younger than 5. These demographic shifts are expected to continue over time. As countries recognize the opportunities and challenges associated with this demographic shift, they must maximize the impact of their public health interventions – such as vaccination – beyond the traditional target groups. This can contribute to longer, healthier lives for individuals and communities.

The Life Course Approach (LCA) provides a framework to help health officials identify key moments where health interventions can be adjusted to obtain maximum benefits. A life course approach to immunization states that persons should receive all vaccine doses at specific moments to: a) Prevent infections; b) Train the immune system to continuously mount the appropriate responses; c) Reduce the interaction between chronic disease, proinflammatory cells and a weakened immune system as one ages; and d) Reduce the community’s morbidity and mortality rates when the persons at highest risk of infection, disease and death are prioritized for vaccination.

National immunization programs must be redesigned to extend vaccination services to all age groups, including the administration of booster and catch-up doses. PAHO’s document Building Better Immunity: A Life Course Approach to Healthy Longevity provides guidelines on how to implement these changes.

Link: https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/58171

Authors: Enrique Vega, Margherita Ghiselli, Evelyn Balsells, Beatriz Nascimento, Carolina Hommes, Ana Lucía Rosado, and Brenda Cadena, Pan American Health Organization.