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World Immunization Week – celebrated in the last week of April (24 to 30 April) – aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. Immunization saves millions of lives every year and is widely recognized as one of the world’s most successful and cost-effective health interventions. Yet, there are still nearly 20 million children in the world today who are not getting the vaccines they need.
The theme this year is #VaccinesWork for All and the campaign will focus on how vaccines – and the people who develop, deliver and receive them – are heroes by working to protect the health of everyone, everywhere.
2020 campaign objectives
The main goal of the campaign is to urge greater engagement around immunization globally and the importance of vaccination in improving health and wellbeing of everyone, everywhere throughout life.
As part of the 2020 campaign, WHO and partners aim to:
- Demonstrate the value of vaccines for the health of children, communities and the world.
- Show how routine immunization is the foundation for strong, resilient health systems and universal health coverage.
- Highlight the need to build on immunization progress while addressing gaps, including through increased investment in vaccines and immunization.
Given that WHO has designated 2020 the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, WHO will highlight nurses and midwives for their crucial role as early vaccine champions for new parents and parents-to-be.
Join us to mark World Immunization Week 2020 with a series of remote events on 'vaccines throughout the life course'. The theme of World Immunization Week this year is #VaccinesWorkforAll. The WHO has produced a series of case studies and materials highlighting the important impact of vaccines around the world.
The VaC programme aims to highlight research work at LSHTM and within our networks on vaccines, each day looking at a vaccine or disease that is important to a specific age group or at a particular stage of life. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic the VaC will continue to promote work on diverse vaccines in given the vital role that immunization plays in global health.
Day 1 of World Immunization Week on Friday the 24th of April we start with an event looking at vaccines in pregnancy with a joint webinar with the MARCH Centre focusing on work towards a Group B Streptococcus (GBS) vaccine for pregnant women. We are also joined by one of the directors of the leading GBS charity in the UK which provides information and support to families affected by GBS.
Day 2 on Monday the 27th of April we move onto vaccines in newborns with a focus on the Hepatitis B vaccines. We get perspectives on this important vaccine from researchers and clinicians working in African contexts including in the Gambia. The threat to this vaccine in the context of COVID-19 will also be discussed. This event will not be live, but a webinar recording will be streamed on the day.
On Day 3, Tuesday the 28th of April we have a live webinar on pneumococcal vaccines as part of the focus on vaccines in young children. Experts from LSHTM in London and at the MRC Unit the Gambia contribute to this event covering research on the schedule of pneumococcal vaccines, the need to understand pneumococcal transmission, recent modelling work and work on pneumococcal phyogenetics.
On Day 4 Wednesday the 29th of April we focus on vaccines in adolescents looking at the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Students from the STIRIG and VaC student groups present findings from their survey among student peers on HPV vaccination rates and knowledge.
The final day of the programme on Thursday the 30th of April we look at vaccines in older adults mainly addressing the UK context. We are joined by both internal and external speakers who will discuss why vaccines are an important preventative tool for elderly populations and how we can address some of the challenges of reaching these groups.
On Friday May 1st we round off the week and this series of webinars with a special event on COVID-19 in the context of vaccine development and impact of the pandemic on routine vaccination programs. LSHTM researchers will share insights into the current landscape and timelines of COVID-vaccine development and reflect upon the “collateral damage” that could potentially result through the deviation of attention away from routine immunization programs. We also hear from LSHTM experts who have worked on vaccine development and clinical trials in other pandemic situations and discuss lessons learned from these experiences.
The full programme with links to the webinar is here: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/media/35351
Mark your calendars! The International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) will host a series of webinars to celebrate World Immunization Week, April 24-30, 2020. Please register for the webinars below:
- Measuring the Economic Impact of Vaccines (REGISTER HERE)
- Date: April 27, 2020
- Time: 12:00 PM EST
- Description: The webinar will present the estimates from the Decade of Vaccine Economics (DoVE) study of the economic benefits and return-on-investment of vaccines against 10 antigens in 73 low-income countries. The webinar will begin with an overview of the methodology used to compute these estimates and then showcase how we apply these methods to calculate the return-on-investment from 2011-2020 and predict the future return-on-investment from 2021-2030.
- VoICE: Using High-impact Evidence for Immunization Advocacy (REGISTER HERE)
- Date: April 28, 2020
- Time: 12:00 PM EST
- Description: This webinar will show how the VoICE tool can be used to synthesize high-quality evidence from across disciplines to support high-impact advocacy messaging that demonstrates the value of vaccines for all people. Immunization is one of the most successful health interventions in the history of medicine, saving millions of lives every year. But the true impact of vaccination is much more far-reaching, benefiting national economies, strengthening health systems, and reducing gaps in equity.
- Are We Ready to Deliver COVID-19 Vaccines to Older Adults? (REGISTER HERE)
- Date: April 29, 2020
- Time: 12:00 PM EST
- Description: A COVID-19 vaccine could be available within a year to 18 months, but is the world ready to deliver vaccines to older adults, who are at increased risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19 and other vaccine preventable diseases? This webinar will discuss the status of current adult vaccine programs around the world; the gaps in countries with and without programs currently in place; and the data and actions needed to enable successful deployment of a novel coronavirus vaccine in an equitable manner.
- Protecting Vaccine Programs in the Era of COVID-19 (REGISTER HERE)
- Date: April 30, 2020
- Time: 12:00 PM EST
- Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to have significant effects on routine immunization programs due to the burden on the health system, physical distancing requirements and reluctance by people to seek vaccination. Previous outbreaks such as Ebola have resulted in lowered coverage of routine vaccines, leading to outbreaks of preventable disease like measles. What do we know about how countries are responding so far to protect their vaccine programs? What principles has WHO established to guide countries on routine immunization during the pandemic and as coronavirus infections subside?