Global Immunization Newsletter

Four years after the introduction of the malaria vaccine in parts of Kenya, WHO’s Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP) team visited government offices, health facilities and homes in the country’s western region to hear from health professionals, community members and caregivers about wha...

Ahead of the 15th IHEA World Congress on Health Economics in Cape Town in July 2023, there will be a Pre-Congress Workshop for the Immunization Economics Special Interest Group (SIG).  The workshop will take place between July 8 & 9, 2023, and will focus on building capacity to generate ec...

Two years ago, a revolutionary electronic system was launched to collect immunization data from around the globe. This system, known as the Electronic Joint Reporting Form on Immunization (eJRF), has had a profound impact on the world of public health. The electronic Joint Reporting Form on Immuniz...

The countries of the Region of the Americas have made progress in implementing electronic immunization registries (EIRs), which look at data development, implementation, and use.  Bolivia, an example of this progress began implementing the EIR in 2018, originally to track routine vaccination,...

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Childhood vaccination rates in Armenia are high. Yet, anecdotal evidence suggests that some health workers may advise against vaccination. The extent and reasons behind this are unknown. This study used the World Health Organization’s Tailoring Immunization Programmes approach to investigate medical...

Between 10 and 14 October 2022, Mr Ted Chaiban, Global Lead Coordinator for the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership (CoVDP) and his team visited Mali in West Africa- one of nine countries with less than 10% COVID-19 vaccination coverage. A member of WHO IST West Africa also supported this advocacy...

In 2012, Liberia conducted its last Comprehensive Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) review (CER). In addition, the comprehensive Multi Year Plan (cMYP) expiring in in June 2020. To provide evidence for the program’s strategic directions and priority activities, a new CER was organized be...

Globally, COVID-19 vaccination has played a critical role in reducing deaths and hospitalizations from SARS-COV-2 infections.  As of December 2021, Somalia had only fully vaccinated 5.9% of its population against COVID-19, due to the country’s weak and fragile health system combined with unpre...

The Service Experience Toolkit introduces the immunization service experience (SE) concept, particularly to country-level Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) staff and implementing partners. The five toolkit products are meant to ignite discussion around how EPIs can address and improve the deliv...

The recently published “Overcoming barriers to vaccine acceptance: Learnings from 734 health workers” report analyses 734 case studies developed by frontline health workers in November 2020 as part of the COVID-19 Peer Hub, a peer learning programme of The Geneva Learning Foundation. This exercise...

On 7 October 2022, WHO published an updated Hepatitis A vaccines position paper to replace the 2012 hepatitis A position published in the Weekly Epidemiological Record . The updated paper, based on a systematic literature review during 2012-2021, considers changes in epidemiology and the latest ev...

In September 2022, a meeting was held in Tactic, Alta Verapaz, to present the results of joint efforts between the Ministry of Health, PAHO, UNICEF and World Food Programme and mobile brigades that brought integrated COVID-19 vaccination, health and nutrition services closer for hard-to-reach commun...

Despite starting the national COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in June 2021, coverage remained low in Chad in early 2022, with 0.8% of the population fully vaccinated and 26% of doses received being administered. In January 2022, Chad was considered one of the 13 “very high-risk” countries as per the WHO...

COVID-19 vaccination campaigns were launched in Guatemala in February 2021. Despite several efforts, by April 15, 2022, national COVID-19 two-dose vaccination coverage was <40%. To help bridge identified gaps in access to COVID-19 vaccination and preventive healthcare, the Ministry of Health´s ...

Currently, 55% of the total population (744m, UNPD 2022 2021) received at least one dose of the COVID-19 jab. The fully vaccinated population is at 47% while the partially vaccinated at 8%. To continue boosting the population especially those at most risk, 16% are boosted in the region. In this is...

A significant change in the polio eradication and broader global health landscape is the Mid-term evaluation of the implementation of the Strategic Action Plan on Polio Transition (2018 - 2023). The evaluationprovides recommendations to support polio transition stakeholders to strengthen health...

In a new push, UNICEF is calling for joint and targeted efforts to provide vaccination to over 32 million women at the 12 most-at-risk countries and protect them and their new-borns from potentially fatal maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT). Geospatial mapping of 24,000 of neonatal deaths (babies ...

In January 2022, Benin introduced the MenAfriVac vaccine into its regular vaccination schedule. The MenAfriVac provides protection against Type A meningitis. This campaign was organised to reach the remaining cohort of unvaccinated children, who had not been reached since the last preventive campaig...

In September 2022, the Regional Director for AFRO, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, launched the ambitious new ‘Regional Framework to Defeat Meningitis in Africa by 2030’ and called on countries to ramp up implementation of the roadmap ahead of the next seasonal outbreak of meningitis in January 2023. Despite ...