A new WHO Information Note concerning the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is now available on the WHO website. http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/ebola/ebola-immunization-afro As a public health emergency of international concern, the recent Ebola outbreak has drawn huge global attent...

In recognition that an increasing number of vaccines are able to tolerate temperatures well above those officially stated on their labels, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been supporting efforts to assess and take advantage of the true heat stability of vaccines. Upstream work in this regard...

This summary has been extracted from the IVAC website. For best viewing, please click here. For the first time in its history, the International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Disease (ISPPD), was held in Asia in March 2014. Nearly 1,000 scientists and public health experts from aroun...

An Editorial in Indian Pediatrics the journal of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics has again raised doubts about the usefulness of Hepatitis-B vaccination in India. Results of the pilot study launched in Andhra Pradesh to evaluate the usefulness of the vaccine have been published in the latest issu...

Dear CSO colleagues and friends Attached please find a CSO sign-on letter drafted by the Gavi CSO Steering Committee and German CSO colleagues working on immunisation ahead of the Gavi Replenishment conference that will be hosted by the German government in Berlin on 27 January, 2015. The l...

Colleagues, I'm cross-posting this IAPHL conversation for TechNet input: If our long term goal is that all countries have high-performing cold chain equipment that meets the needs for current vaccines as well as near-term new introductions, this points to the need for action across several areas....

On behalf of the WHO Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (IPAC), I'm pleased to let you know about this advocacy document, now available on the WHO website, that summarises IPAC's concerns regarding lack of investment in Immunization Supply Chain and Logistics (ISCL). This work was approved b...

The updated Updated Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to request M&RI funding to respond to measles outbreaks in Gavi eligible countries are available at: http://www.measlesrubellainitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SOP_MRI_Outbreak_Response_Fund_June2014_Final.pdf or at http:/...

The Cold Chain Support Package (CCSP) on the UNICEF internet site is now officially ‘live’. The CCSP is an initiative of the UNICEF Supply Division in Copenhagen. It is meant to support UNICEF Country Offices and Partners with the procurement of Cold Chain Equipment through UNICEF Supply Division. W...

VVM’s and MKT are equivalent methods of measuring the effect of temperature variations on vaccines. VVM’s & MKT measurements can be used in a complimentary manner, the VVM’s give information on the life of individual vaccine vials. MKT measurements can be used to effectively measure the performa...

The Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) sets out an array of targets for a world in which all individuals and communities enjoy lives free from vaccine-preventable diseases. As requested by Member States at the World Health Assembly in 2012, an annual review of the progress with the implementation of ...

The meeting of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization took place in Geneva from the 21-23 October 2014. The full SAGE meeting summary is available online at: http://www.who.int/immunization/sage/meetings/2014/october/summary_meeting_oct2014 For more information on SAGE,...

Last week marked the second occasion that a Controlled Temperature Chain (CTC) has been officially used with a vaccine licensed, pre-qualified, and labelled accordingly. Mauritania has just completed a Meningitis A immunization campaign (scheduled from October 14th to the 23rd) using the Meningococ...

Please find at the link below the revised WHO multi-dose vial policy. Please disseminate widely to all EPI staff. Thank you. Veuillez trouver au lien ci-dessous la nouvelle politique de l'OMS en ce qui concerne la manipulation correcte des flacons de vaccin multidoses entamés. Je vous prie de bien ...

The NVAC Global Immunization Supplement is now available online and published in Public Heath Reports (Public Health Reports / 2014 Supplement 3 / Volume 129) http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac/reports/nvac-global-report-supplement.pdf This 90 page report includes a commentary from Margaret Chan (Dire...

New interesting articles from the folks at MIT/Zaragoza Logistics Centre in press for Operations Research for Health Care. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211692314200002# Abstract In the battle for global health, supply chains are often found wanting. Yet most of what is kn...

The budget impact of controlling wastage with smaller vials: A data driven model of session sizes in Bangladesh, India (Uttar Pradesh), Mozambique, and Uganda. W Yang, M Parisi, B Lahue, J Uddin, D Bishai - Vaccine, 2014 Link to full Article. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264...

We are pleased to announce that Gavi will be hosting our next moderated discussion starting Thursday, October 9th. During this conversation Daniel Thornton, the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Gavi, will be sharing the new global immunisation supply chain strategy which Gavi has developed in co...

The results of a study conducted by Epicentre /Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) assessing the immunogenicity and safety of a tetanus toxoid vaccine have been recently published in Vaccine.[sup]1 [/sup] The study was conducted in collaboration with the Project Optimize, the Belgian Institute of Public...

The 'Moving Warehouse' (MW) system of vaccine distribution issues vaccine as needed from a mobile stock to a series of stores situated on a pre-planned delivery circuit. MW has proved to be the best of the available choices in countries of three regions, by achieving the following comparative advant...