The evolution of Vaccination Week in the Americas

Abstract

This report covers the background and evolution of Vaccination Week in the Americas (VWA), an initiative that started as a coordinated response to a 2002 measles outbreak in Colombia and Venezuela, and evolved into the model for other regions and World Immunization Week (WIW) . VWA focuses on the work of national immunization programs, with special efforts to reach the unreached. This paper offers examples of how countries have leveraged VWA to implement a diverse array of vaccination activities, strengthening overall health services by integrating with other preventive health interventions, and bolstering “Pan-Americanism” and health diplomacy . The opportunities offered by this global initiative were clearly demonstrated in April 2016 when the successful global switch from the trivalent oral polio vaccine to the bivalent vaccine was synchronized with WIW. Going forward, VWA and WIW can help close the gaps in access to immunization and other health services, contributing to achieve universal health coverage .

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with frequent influenza vaccination among healthcare personnel in Peru, 2016─2018

“…Influenza causes substantive economic and disease burden in Peru that results in high rates of hospitalizations and deaths [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] . To mitigate this burden, each year Peru’s government purchases one trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine product though the Pan American Health Organization and provides doses free of charge for target groups identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) [5] ; these target groups include young children, pregnant women, older adults, individuals with comorbidities, and healthcare personnel (HCP). Despite a national program for HCP influenza vaccination, knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of these SAGE target groups suggest that HCP insufficiently receive and recommend influenza vaccination in Peru [6] , [7] , [8] , possibly because of ambivalence about individuals’ risk of influenza illness or the value of influenza vaccination [9] .…”

Actividades de inmunización en el contexto de la pandemia por la COVID-19 en Latinoamérica

“…Editor: Del 25 de abril al 2 de mayo del 2020 se programó la XVIII Campaña de la Semana de Vacunación en las Américas. Sin embargo, en el contexto de la actual pandemia, es posible que varios países de Latinoamérica hayan retrasado esta actividad (1) , cuyo objetivo es mejorar las coberturas de vacunación en la población en general, con especial atención en quienes se encuentran en situación de vulnerabilidad, tienen un acceso limitado a los servicios de salud y pertenecen a grupos de alto riesgo (2) .…”

“…En el contexto de la declaración de pandemia, se realizó el presente estudio con el objetivo de describir las actividades de promoción, desarrollo de estrategias de vacunación y preferencia vacunal en el mes previo y durante la Semana de Vacunación en las Américas (SVA) 2020. Cada año en la región, entre los meses de abril y mayo, se propicia la campaña de la SVA con la intención de mejorar las coberturas de vacunación y favorecer la confianza de la población en las vacunas como estrategia para salvar vidas (2) .…”