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(left to right) Emily Miller, Alex Michel, Marley Jurgensmeyer, Prachi Singh, and Rupali Limaye
IVAC @ VARN2023
Several IVAC faculty members recently participated in the Sabin Vaccine Institute’s annual Vaccination Acceptance Research Network (VARN) 2023 Conference, which was co-convened with UNICEF and co-sponsored by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in Bangkok, Thailand.
- IVAC Deputy Director Dr. Rupali Limaye gave an oral presentation on Vaccine Acceptance and Demand Generation for Future Vaccines, which touched on her work on both the Maternal Immunization Readiness Initiative (MIRI) as well as the SMART4TB Consortium.
- Dr. Chizoba Wonodi gave an oral presentation on Targeted Messaging for COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance.
- In an oral presentation on the Evaluation of a Training Resource to Strengthen Healthcare Worker Capacity in Combating Vaccine Misinformation, Emily Miller spoke about the development and evaluation of IVAC's vaccine misinformation training.
- Marley Jurgensmeyer gave an oral presentation on IVAC's newly redesigned VIEW-hub, an interactive, map-based platform for visualizing data on vaccine use and impact.
- Prachi Singh presented a poster with findings on how lactating and pregnant women in Kenya and Bangladesh navigate the COVID-19 vaccine decision-making process. Congratulations to Prachi for winning first place in the demand generation poster category!
- Alex Michel presented a poster on IVAC’s online course, COVID Vaccine Ambassador Training: How to Talk to Parents, which uses peer-based communication approaches to combat vaccine misinformation and vaccine hesitancy in the community by training laypersons to become vaccine ambassadors.
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IVAC Provides Vaccine Misinformation Training in the Philippines
Earlier this month, IVAC’s Emily Miller and Prachi Singh traveled to the Philippines to train a group of writers, communication specialists, health care workers, Peace Corps volunteers, and technical officers from the Philippines Department of Health on communication strategies to identify and reject harmful vaccine misinformation. This interactive training, co-designed with the Sabin Vaccine Institute, teaches concise, evidence-based practices to tackle vaccine misinformation and provides an opportunity for participants to practice their skills by simulating real-world encounters with patients and community members. |
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New Report Underscores Priorities and Needs for HPV Vaccine Advocacy
 IVAC recently conducted a survey of about 100 HPV vaccine stakeholders to understand global priorities and current needs for HPV vaccine advocacy. Key takeaways centered around the need to ensure high-level political commitment and engagement with cultural leaders, as well as the importance of highlighting health and economic benefits offered by HPV vaccines. Stakeholders were familiar with WHO’s updated recommendations for a single-dose schedule for HPV vaccines and cited this as a potentially strong enabling factor to advance vaccine introduction.
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COVID-19 Vaccines and the Pandemic: Lessons Learned
A recent series of articles published in BMJ Global Health explore lessons learned from the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines, which leveraged different technologies to produce multiple effective vaccines. This approach, however, led to inequities in vaccine access and is not sustainable long-term. Going forward, recommendations include:
- Expanding scale-up capacity for both traditional and new vaccine technologies in low- and middle-income countries
- Creating vaccine manufacturing hubs, particularly in Africa, to promote equitable vaccine access
- Leveraging existing health and development platforms to strengthen countries' health systems
- Establishing an international framework to promote and support a more coordinated global response to future pandemics
Read more:
- COVID-19 Vaccines and the Pandemic: Lessons Learnt for other Neglected Diseases and Future Threats by Peter Hotez, Sarah Gilbert, Melanie Saville, Lois Privor-Dumm, Salim Abdool-Karim, Didi Thompson, Jean-Louis Excler, and Jerome Kim
- Factors, Enablers and Challenges for COVID-19 Vaccine Development by Jean-Louis Excler, Melanie Saville, Lois Privor-Dumm, Sarah Gilbert, Peter Hotez, Didi Thompson, Salim Abdool-Karim, and Jerome Kim
- Vaccine Access, Equity and Justice: COVID-19 Vaccines and Vaccination by Lois Privor-Dumm, Jean-Louis Excler, Sarah Gilbert, Salim Abdool Karim, Peter Hotez, Didi Thompson, and Jerome Kim
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Experience, Enablers, and Challenges in Service Delivery and Integration of COVID-19 Vaccines: A Rapid Systematic Review
By Sarah Nabia, Chizoba Barbara Wonodi, Alba Vilajeliu, Sabine Sussman, Katharine Olson, Rianna Cooke, Krishna Udayakumar, Claire Twose, Nwamaka Ezeanya, Adewumi Adetola Adefarrell, and Ann Lindstrand
A recent review published in Vaccines explored the experiences, lessons learned, and challenges of service delivery and integration of COVID-19 vaccination into existing immunization programs and primary health care services in nine countries. Researchers found limited evidence of integrating COVID-19 vaccines into routine services for pregnant women and people who inject drugs, and existing health programs were not typically leveraged to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to the general population. Common challenges included vaccine skepticism, language barriers, and a lack of adequate health workers due to high turnover rates. |
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