Recent Updates

Despite global efforts to increase access to life-saving pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, pneumonia remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children under 5. In recognition of World Pneumonia Day 2023, the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is bringing together experts from a range of disciplines to discuss novel tools and strategies to protect children everywhere against this deadly disease.

Featuring:

Mathuram Santosham, MD (Keynote)

Alison Hill, PhD, MPH

Ruth Karron, MD

William Moss, MD, MPH

Anita Shet, MD, PhD

Prachi Singh

Anthony D. So, MD, MPA

When: July 27 from 7:00am - 8:00am EDT | CLICK TO REGISTER

Description: Vaccine safety and pharmacovigilance have been identified as a key area of importance in Asia and the Pacific, as well as an emerging priority for future pandemic preparedness and systems strengthening. During a virtual event supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), we will examine current vaccine safety system capacities, the principal concerns faced by countries in Asia and the Pacific in delivering COVID-19 vaccines, and how this has influenced priorities for strengthening vaccine safety and pharmacovigilance systems. The panel comprised of global vaccine safety experts and national technical advisors will discuss learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic and the emerging priorities for vaccine safety and pharmacovigilance.

Featuring:

• Sheri Maria Morgan, MPH, International Vaccine Access Center
• Daniel Salmon, PhD, MPH, Institute for Vaccine Safety
• Heeyoun Gloria Cho, MD, MPH, World Health Organization
• Madhava Ram Balakrishnan, MD, DNB, World Health Organization
• Sonam Wangchuk, PhD, MSc, Royal Centre for Disease Control, Bhutan
• Sonalini Khetrapal PhD, MPH, BEng, Asian Development Bank

REGISTER HERE

Vaccine policy has evolved throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in response to research and data collected about how vaccines perform in the real world - called vaccine effectiveness. During a virtual event supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), meet the team that helped synthesize vaccine effectiveness evidence for global decision makers including the WHO. The panel comprised of epidemiologists, health practitioners, and immunization experts will discuss the importance of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness studies in guiding past and future global vaccine policy.

Featuring:
• Maria Knoll, PhD, International Vaccine Access Center
• Karoline Walter, MSPH, International Vaccine Access Center
• Melissa Higdon, MPH, International Vaccine Access Center
• Chris Morgan, PhD, Jhpiego
• Anurima Baidya, MPH, MBBS, International Vaccine Access Center

As we prioritize routine immunizations in a post-pandemic era, countries are eager to increase their progress toward achieving global immunization goals set prior to the pandemic. In this webinar, the MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity project will share lessons learned from India and Kenya during the pandemic and how they can be applied to routine immunization.

Government officials from India will discuss bringing equitable COVID-19 vaccination to vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations using community engagement and working through local nongovernmental organizations with deep community networks. Hear how this approach can be used to improve routine immunization, especially for populations commonly missed by health services.

Learn about Kenya’s immunization program and what measures were taken to keep immunization coverage from dropping during the pandemic. Hear more about how these new strategies to improve equity and life course vaccination were implemented and what others can gain from the lessons learned.

PATH’s Living Labs Initiative used human-centered design methods to gather feedback on proposed labels for COVID-19 vaccine vials and cartons. Healthcare workers in Kenya and Zambia interacted with the labels and made recommendations for vaccine manufacturers for labels for future batches. This webinar will cover the human-centered design approaches used in this study and the feedback gathered on healthcare worker preferences for vaccine labelling. Additionally, PATH’s experts will discuss other insights gathered related to the support and training healthcare workers desire to feel confident in administering the COVID-19 vaccine.

Speakers:

Oyugi Allela, Creative Designer, Living Labs Kenya

Steve Osumba, Creative Designer, Living Labs Kenya

Brenda Magula, Creative Designer, Living Labs Zambia

Casildah Lumamba, Creative Designer, Living Labs Zambia

Josephine Simwinga, Chief EPI Officer, Zambia Ministry of Health

Register here: https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fp8XO1xbTLyKEOyYBwJEWQ

Learn more about this work: https://www.technet-21.org/en/topics/covid-19-labelling

Join this webinar for a panel discussion and Q&A reflecting on ideas offered in a forthcoming report by the Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group, Powering Vaccine R&D: Opportunities for Transformation. This report will draw on historic lessons learned from vaccine development to outline opportunities to overhaul vaccine R&D practices to better prepare for the next pandemic, to make strides against diseases currently without vaccines, and to establish next-generation vaccines that offer meaningful improvements.

FEATURING:

Brief overview of report by Dr. Bruce Gellin, President of Global Immunization, Sabin Vaccine Institute; member, Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group

Panel discussion moderated by Jamie Bay Nishi, Director, Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), featuring:
• Dr. Kundai Chinyenze, Executive Medical Director, IAVI, Uganda
• Dr. Penny Heaton, Chief Executive Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute; member, Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group
• Dr. John Nkengasong, Director, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
• Prof. Helen Rees, Executive Director, Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, University of the Witwatersrand; member, Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Xx7XKpI6SI6ZMN4tcXz1mA

The Single-dose HPV Vaccine Evaluation Consortium collates and synthesizes existing evidence and evaluates new data on the potential for single-dose HPV vaccination. Their goal is to inform global policy discussions and program guidance, as well as to raise awareness and understanding of its implications. The Consortium invites you to join a webinar with some of their researchers to review the recently released evidence.

The 31 March session (3-4 PM CET) will provide updates from clinic trials, observational studies, and modeling analyses on the efficacy, immunogenicity, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of single dose HPV vaccination. If demonstrated to be effective, single-dose HPV vaccination could facilitate new options for current national programs by simplifying delivery and lowering program costs. For low- and middle-income countries that have delayed introducing HPV vaccines because of financial, logistical or other barriers; a single-dose HPV vaccination schedule could accelerate introduction of HPV vaccines into national immunization schedules. 

Presenters

Kiesha Prem, PhD, Research Fellow, Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, LSHTM  

Anne Schuind, MD, Initiative Team Leader for HPV Vaccines, Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access, PATH

Evan Simpson, DrPH, MPH, Team Lead, Vaccine Implementation, Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access, PATH

Register here: https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TdCbMNe0S-malQ_I0dZQ_w

For resources or to discuss about this topic: https://www.technet-21.org/en/forums/discussions/technet-webinar-new-single-dose-hpv-vaccination-evidence-and-resources