Pakistan's Immunization program is in place since 1978. During this time, it has gone through a lot of improvement in vaccine management, vaccine delivery, introducing new vaccines in the program and vaccine coverage. The immunization policies are heavily influenced by the robust evidence and guidance by the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) and National Inter-agency Coordination Committee (NICC). Immunization policy has integrated service delivery for reaching the zero dose among its main objectives.
The EPI primarily covers the mothers, infants and children for immunization. The EPI program shall be including vaccines for prevention of vaccine preventable diseases among the adolescents and older age groups as the evidence of vaccines' effectiveness is acquired and advised by the NITAG. The immunization schedule shall thus be periodically updated as and when required depending upon the local disease burden and requirements. Private sector service providers will be required to provide data of vaccination for their clients to be incorporated into the immunization information system.
It has been realized that the National Immunization Policy needs to be aligned with socio-economic changes and health indicators at the international, national and sub-national levels, should take latest innovations into account and give directions to better engage parents and caregivers of the children. Further, coherence with the specific SDG3 targets, National Health Vision 2016-25 and Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) is also required to align the vision of the program with the national and global health expected outcomes.
This immunization policy shall have its periodic updating considering the quality of evidence-based recommendations by the Strategic Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group (RITAG) and NITAG.