Construction and use of a risk stratification instrument for vaccination of elderly against Covid-19 / Construção e utilização de instrumento de estratificação de risco para vacinação de idosos contra a Covid-19 / Construcción y uso de un instrumento de estratificación de riesgo para la vacunación del anciano contra el Covid- 19

Objetivo: Relatar a experiência da construção e utilização de um instrumento de estratificação de risco para vacinação de idosos contra a COVID-19. Métodos: Relato da experiência desenvolvida no município de Massapê ­ Ceará, durante o ano de 2021, a partir do início da campanha de vacinação de idosos contra a COVID-19. Descrição da Experiência: Por conta da escassez de imunobiológicos, na fase inicial da vacinação contra a COVID-19, a Secretaria da Saúde do município de Massapê, estado do Ceará, criou um instrumento para estratificação de riscos sanitários, epidemiológicos e sociais dos idosos, contendo seus dados sociodemográficos e as comorbidades. Após o estabelecimento das variáveis, foram estabelecidos escores para os estratos de risco, que foram classificados em baixo (um a três pontos), médio (quatro a seis pontos), alto (sete a nove pontos) e muito alto (dez pontos e mais). Considerações Finais: O estudo mostra que, apesar da pandemia de COVID-19, uma crise sanitária global sem precedentes como já dito, ações pontuais, mesmo que localizadas, podem ter efeito em cadeia e ser replicadas em outros cenários e momentos.

Objective: To report the experience of building and using a risk stratification instrument for vaccinating the elderly against COVID-19. Methods: Report of the experience developed in the municipality of Massapê - Ceará, during the year 2021, from the beginning of the vaccination campaign for the elderly against COVID-19. Experience Description: Due to the scarcity of immunobiologicals, in the initial phase of vaccination against COVID-19, the Department of Health of the municipality of Massapê, state of Ceará, created an instrument to stratify the health, epidemiological and social risks of the elderly, containing sociodemographic data and comorbidities of the elderly. After establishing the variables, scores were established for the risk strata, which were classified as low (one to three points), medium (four to six points), high (seven to nine points) and very high (ten points and more). Final Considerations: The study shows that, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented global health crisis as already mentioned, specific actions, even if localized, can have a chain effect and be replicated in other scenarios and times.

Objetivo: Relatar la experiencia de construcción y uso de un instrumento de estratificación de riesgo para la vacunación de ancianos contra la COVID-19. Métodos: Informe de la experiencia desarrollada en el municipio de Massapê - Ceará, durante el año 2021, desde el inicio de la campaña de vacunación de ancianos contra la COVID-19. Descripción de la Experiencia: Debido a la escasez de inmunobiológicos, en la fase inicial de la vacunación contra la COVID-19, la Secretaría de Salud del municipio de Massapê, estado de Ceará, creó un instrumento para estratificar los riesgos sanitarios, epidemiológicos y sociales de los ancianos, que contiene datos sociodemográficos y comorbilidades de los ancianos. Luego de establecer las variables, se establecieron puntajes para los estratos de riesgo, los cuales se clasificaron en bajo (uno a tres puntos), medio (cuatro a seis puntos), alto (siete a nueve puntos) y muy alto (diez puntos y más). Consideraciones finales: El estudio muestra que, a pesar de la pandemia de COVID-19, una crisis sanitaria mundial sin precedentes como ya se mencionó, las acciones específicas, aunque sean localizadas, pueden tener un efecto en cadena y replicarse en otros escenarios y tiempos.

Surveillance To Track Progress Toward Poliomyelitis Eradication - Worldwide, 2021-2022.

Since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was established in 1988, the number of wild poliovirus (WPV) cases has declined by >99.9%, and WPV serotypes 2 and 3 have been declared eradicated (1). By the end of 2022, WPV type 1 (WPV1) transmission remained endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan (2,3). However, during 2021-2022, Malawi and Mozambique reported nine WPV1 cases that were genetically linked to Pakistan (4,5), and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) outbreaks were detected in 42 countries (6). cVDPVs are oral poliovirus vaccine-derived viruses that can emerge after prolonged circulation in populations with low immunity allowing reversion to neurovirulence and can cause paralysis. Polioviruses are detected primarily through surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), and poliovirus is confirmed through stool specimen testing. Environmental surveillance, the systematic sampling of sewage and testing for the presence of poliovirus, supplements AFP surveillance. Both surveillance systems were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on public health activities during 2020 (7,8) but improved in 2021 (9). This report updates previous reports (7,9) to describe surveillance performance during 2021-2022 in 34 priority countries.* In 2022, a total of 26 (76.5%) priority countries met the two key AFP surveillance performance indicator targets nationally compared with 24 (70.6%) countries in 2021; however, substantial gaps remain in subnational areas. Environmental surveillance expanded to 725 sites in priority countries, a 31.1% increase from the 553 sites reported in 2021. High-quality surveillance is critical to rapidly detect poliovirus transmission and enable prompt poliovirus outbreak response to stop circulation. Frequent monitoring of surveillance guides improvements to achieve progress toward polio eradication.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the vaccination of children 12 months of age and under: an ecological study. / Impacto da pandemia do COVID-19 na vacinação de crianças de até um ano de idade: um estudo ecológico.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the vaccination numbers for immunization geared toward individuals under 12 months of age in Brazil. This study analyzed the numbers of the nationwide vaccination coverage of ten vaccines present in the calendar from the National Immunization Program (NIP) over the past eight years (2013-2020). This is an ecological study, and all data were taken from the NIP. In comparison to the previous years, 2020 recorded the lowest figures of vaccination coverage (VC) of the average of the group of studied vaccines - 79.07% - while in 2019, this same index was 84.44%, resulting in a drop of 11.10% between these two periods. Moreover, during the year of the pandemic, of the ten analyzed vaccines, nine recorded their lowest historical VC figures, all of which were at least 14 percentage points below the goals set by the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MS, in Portuguese). Although there had already been a tendency toward a decline in VC, for various reasons, the present study illustrates that the numbers recorded in 2020 were significantly lower, a phenomenon also reported in other countries. Therefore, although it is impossible to affirm that the COVID-19 pandemic and its distancing measures are the causes for the drop in the immunization numbers, it can be inferred that there is indeed an association.

O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar o impacto da pandemia de COVID-19 nos valores de vacinação para as imunizações voltadas a indivíduos com menos de um ano de vida no Brasil. Analisou-se os valores de cobertura vacinal, em território nacional, de dez vacinas presentes no calendário do Programa Nacional de Imunizações (PNI) durante os últimos oito anos (2013-2020). Esse é um estudo ecológico e todos os dados foram extraídos do PNI. Comparativamente aos anos prévios, em 2020 registrou-se o menor valor de cobertura vacinal da média do conjunto das vacinas estudadas, 75,07%, enquanto em 2019 esse mesmo índice ficou em 84,44%, resultando em uma queda de 11,10% entre esses dois períodos. Além disso, no ano da pandemia, das dez vacinas analisadas, nove registraram o seu menor valor histórico de cobertura, todas estando a no mínimo 14 pontos percentuais abaixo da meta do Ministério da Saúde. Embora já houvesse uma tendência de queda na cobertura vacinal, por diversos motivos, o presente estudo demonstra que os valores registrados em 2020 foram significativamente menores, fenômeno também registrado em outros países. Portanto, mesmo não conseguindo afirmar que a pandemia de COVID-19 e as medidas de distanciamento sejam as causas da queda dos valores de imunização, podemos inferir que há uma associação.

Lessons for strengthening childhood immunization in low- and middle-income countries from a successful public-private partnership in rural Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Immunization is a cost-effective public health strategy to reduce vaccine preventable disease, especially in childhood. METHODS: This paper reports the philosophy, service delivery, achievements and lessons learned from an immunization program in rural Nigeria privately financed via a corporate social responsibility initiative from GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals. RESULTS: The immunization program served the community for a 16-y period extending from 1998 until 2015, resulting in an increase in age-appropriate immunization coverage from 43% to 78%. CONCLUSION: In its success, this immunization program exemplified the importance of early and sustained community engagement, integration of strategies to optimize implementation outcomes and effective team building well before some of these principles were accepted and codified in the literature. The project also underscores the important role that the private sector can bring to achieving critical immunization goals, especially among underserved populations and provides a model for successful public-private partnership.

The SARS-CoV-2 vaccination campaign in Brazil and the invisibility of science evidences. / A campanha de vacinação contra o SARS-CoV-2 no Brasil e a invisibilidade das evidências científicas.

This paper reflects on the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in Brazil in light of the consideration of scientific evidence in the decision-making process. Brazil has one of the largest and most complete vaccination programs in the world, the National Immunization Program (Programa Nacional de Imunizações or PNI). Unfortunately, in the current context, with the political interference of the federal government, the PNI lost its role in conducting the vaccination campaign against COVID-19. Despite being a vaccination campaign with a lot of potential and one of the most accepted by the population among countries in the world, it presented many problems and left several gaps in the Brazilian scenario. In this sense, it is essential that the quality scientific evidence produced during this period can guide a constant remodeling of the vaccination strategy. Four points deserve to be highlighted: 1) the interval between doses; 2) the interchangeability between vaccines; 3) vaccination in children and adolescentes; and 4) the need for better evidence to define the vaccination strategy in certain groups and age groups.

O presente texto trata de refletir sobre a campanha de vacinação contra COVID-19 no Brasil à luz da consideração das evidências científicas no processo de tomada de decisão. O Brasil possui um dos maiores e mais completos programas de vacinação do mundo, o Programa Nacional de Imunizações (PNI). Infelizmente, no contexto atual, com as interferências políticas do governo federal, o PNI perdeu seu protagonismo na condução da campanha de vacinação contra a COVID-19. Apesar de ser uma campanha de vacinação com muito potencial e uma das mais aceitas pela população entre os países no mundo, apresentou muitos problemas e deixou diversas lacunas no cenário brasileiro. Nesse sentido, é fundamental que as evidências científicas de qualidade produzidas nesse período possam guiar uma remodelagem constante da estratégia de vacinação. Quatro pontos merecem ser destacados: 1) o intervalo entre as doses; 2) a intercambialidade entre vacinas; 3) a vacinação em adolescentes; e 4) a necessidade de melhores evidências para definir a estratégia de vacinação em certos grupos e faixas etárias.

Estimating global changes in routine childhood vaccination coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020-2021.

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the distribution of routine immunizations globally. Multi-country studies assessing a wide spectrum of vaccines and their coverage rates are needed to determine global performance in achieving vaccination goals. METHODS: Global vaccine coverage data for 16 antigens were obtained from WHO/UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage. Tobit regression was performed for all country-antigen pairs for which data were continuously available between 2015-2020 or 2015-2021 to predict vaccine coverage in 2020/2021. Vaccines for which multi-dose data were available were assessed to determine whether vaccine coverage for subsequent doses were lower than that of first doses. RESULTS: Vaccine coverage was significantly lower-than-predicted for 13/16 antigens in 2020 and all assessed antigens in 2021. Lower-than-predicted vaccine coverage was typically observed in South America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. There was a statistically significant coverage drop for subsequent doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, pneumococcus, and rotavirus vaccines compared to first doses in 2020 and 2021. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic exerted larger disruptions to routine vaccination services in 2021 than in 2020. Global efforts will be needed to recoup vaccine coverage losses sustained during the pandemic and broaden vaccine access in areas where coverage was previously inadequate.

Driving more WHO-recommended vaccines in the National Immunization Program: Issues and challenges in China.

WHO-recommended vaccines substantially prevent and control vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), but their inclusion differs among countries and regions. We reviewed the application for WHO-recommended vaccines in China and described the concerns and obstacles in driving the inclusion of more vaccines into China's NIP, including immunization strategies, financial barriers, vaccination services, and behavioral and social supply-side and demand-side factors. China has made significant efforts, however, they may not be sufficient until the inclusion of more WHO-recommended vaccines in the National Immunization Program (NIP), ensuring that the vaccination encompasses the whole life course of individuals, establishment of more trustworthy vaccination finance and procurement, increasing vaccine development, optimizing vaccine demand forecasts, improving the accessibility and equity of vaccination services, capturing the key points of behavioral and social drivers of vaccination on the demand side, and establishing holistic prevention and control from a public health perspective.

Personal risk or societal benefit? Investigating adults' support for COVID-19 childhood vaccination.

Parental hesitancy poses a serious threat to the success of the COVID-19 childhood vaccination campaign. We investigate whether adults' opinions on childhood vaccination can be influenced via two survey experiments in Italy (n = 3,633 participants) and the UK (n = 3,314 participants). Respondents were randomly assigned to: a "risk treatment" that highlighted the potential risks of COVID-19 to a child, a "herd immunity treatment" that emphasized the community benefits of pediatric vaccination, or a control message. Participants' probability of supporting COVID-19 childhood vaccination was then assessed on a 0-100 scale. We find that the "risk treatment" reduced the proportion of Italian parents strongly against vaccination by up to 29.6 %, while increasing the proportion of neutral parents by up to 45.0 %. The "herd immunity treatment", instead, was only effective among non-parents, resulting in a lower proportion of individuals against pediatric vaccination and a higher proportion of individuals in favor (both shifted by around 20 %).

COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Campaign: An International Comparison of Qatar With GCC Nations and Other Global Groups.

Objectives: Mass vaccination has been a key component in the effort to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Different countries have formulated their mass vaccination campaigns in different ways and with different priorities, with varying results. This study focuses on the case of Qatar in comparison with regional neighbors in the Gulf Cooperation Community (GCC) and with global benchmarks (G7 and OECD nations) in terms of the deployment of its mass vaccination program. Methods: Data on national vaccine administration and policy were obtained from Our World in Data and the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker for the period of 25 November 2020, when public vaccination first began to be implemented within the GCC, and June 2021, when Qatar's mass vaccination campaign concluded. Factors compared cross-nationally included the total number of vaccine doses administered, doses administered per 100 population, the time taken to reach certain vaccination thresholds (5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 doses per 100 population), and policy regarding administration to specific priority groups. Cumulative vaccination rates were also compared graphically by date. Results: A descriptive comparison of vaccination rates illustrated that there were similar aggregate patterns among the GCC, G7, and OECD groups of countries, and that there was a great deal of heterogeneity in the patterns of vaccination between countries within each of these groups. The mass vaccination program in Qatar outpaced the aggregate GCC, G7, and OECD groups. Conclusion: There were large between-country differences in the speed of mass vaccination progress which did not appear to be directly explained by national wealth. It is suggested that administrative and program management factors could account for some of these differences.

Study of optimal vaccination strategies for early COVID-19 pandemic using an age-structured mathematical model: A case study of the USA.

In this paper we study different vaccination strategies that could have been implemented for the early COVID-19 pandemic. We use a demographic epidemiological mathematical model based on differential equations in order to investigate the efficacy of a variety of vaccination strategies under limited vaccine supply. We use the number of deaths as the metric to measure the efficacy of each of these strategies. Finding the optimal strategy for the vaccination programs is a complex problem due to the large number of variables that affect the outcomes. The constructed mathematical model takes into account demographic risk factors such as age, comorbidity status and social contacts of the population. We perform simulations to assess the performance of more than three million vaccination strategies which vary depending on the vaccine priority of each group. This study focuses on the scenario corresponding to the early vaccination period in the USA, but can be extended to other countries. The results of this study show the importance of designing an optimal vaccination strategy in order to save human lives. The problem is extremely complex due to the large amount of factors, high dimensionality and nonlinearities. We found that for low/moderate transmission rates the optimal strategy prioritizes high transmission groups, but for high transmission rates, the optimal strategy focuses on groups with high CFRs. The results provide valuable information for the design of optimal vaccination programs. Moreover, the results help to design scientific vaccination guidelines for future pandemics.

An overview of a successful COVID-19 vaccination campaign at a prominent Connecticut healthcare system.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has required healthcare systems to adapt, innovate, and collaborate to protect public health through treatment, testing, and vaccination initiatives related to the virus. As the pandemic evolved, lessons learned early on through testing and treatment were applied to vaccination efforts. Hartford HealthCare (HHC) is one of the largest healthcare systems in New England and took an integral role in vaccinating patients throughout the region, thus providing one of the largest vaccination campaigns in Connecticut. Early planning for equipment and personnel, in addition to effective communication between providers and patients, was critical in accomplishing HHC's goal of rapidly providing access to COVID-19 vaccines. The efficient and effective response to the pandemic at HHC was led by the Office of Emergency Management, which worked to ensure continuity of patient care and physician excellence in the face of disaster. Initially, resources were directed to testing and treatment of the disease; as vaccine clinical trials announced successful outcomes, these efforts shifted to preparing for the storage and distribution of a mass number of vaccines. This manuscript details the factors that enabled success in HHC's vaccination campaign and serves to provide a useful template for similar healthcare systems for future pandemic response.

An Introduction to the Japanese Immunization Program: Past, Present, and Future Perspectives.

In Japan, immunization is regulated by the Immunization Law, enacted shortly after World War II ended. It has been subsequently revised in response to social changes; however, after public health conditions improved, adverse events following immunization have received more public attention than the effectiveness of vaccination. This kind of public opinion had a major impact on the immunization program, leading to a so-called "vaccine gap" around a decade ago, that is, the less availability of vaccines for routine vaccination as compared with other countries. However, in recent years, several vaccines have been approved and are being routinely administered with the same schedule as in other countries. National immunization programs are influenced by various factors, such as cultures, customs, habits and ideas. This paper summarizes the status of immunization schedule and practices in Japan, process of policymaking, and possible future issues.

Methodological changes implemented over time to support accurate and timely COVID-19 vaccine coverage estimates: Ontario, Canada.

The COVID-19 vaccination program implementation in Ontario, Canada has spanned multiple years and is ongoing. To meet the challenges of the program, Ontario developed and implemented a new electronic COVID-19 immunization registry, COVaxON, which captures individual-level data on all doses administered in the province enabling comprehensive coverage assessment. However, the need for ongoing COVID-19 vaccine coverage assessments over a multi-year vaccination program posed challenges necessitating methodological changes. This paper describes Ontario's COVID-19 immunization registry, the methods implemented over time to allow for the ongoing assessment of vaccine coverage by age, and the impact of those methodological changes. Throughout the course of the vaccination program, four different methodological approaches were used to calculate age-specific coverage estimates using vaccination data (numerator) obtained from COVaxON. Age-specific numerators were initially calculated using age at time of first dose (method A), but were updated to the age at coverage assessment (method B). Database enhancements allowed for the exclusion of deceased individuals from the numerator (method C). Population data (denominator) was updated to 2022 projections from the 2021 national census following their availability (method D). The impact was most evident in older age groups where vaccine uptake was high. For example, coverage estimates for individuals aged 70-79 years of age for at least one dose decreased from 104.9 % (method B) to 95.0 % (method D). Thus, methodological changes improved estimates such that none exceeded 100 %. Ontario's COVID-19 immunization registry has been transformational for vaccine program surveillance. The implementation of a single registry for COVID-19 vaccines was essential for comprehensive near real-time coverage assessment, and enabled new uses of the data to support additional components of vaccine program surveillance. The province is well positioned to build on what has been achieved as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and expand the registry to other routine vaccination programs.

Informing the design of a whole of life immunisation register for Australia.

INTRODUCTION: In 2016, Australia launched a whole life immunisation register, the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR), building on a universal childhood register established in 1997. Immunisation Information Systems are well established in Europe, the US and elsewhere. However, a national system covering immunisation across the lifespan, with complete capture of the population and satisfactory data quality, is rare. METHODS: A national workshop was convened in 2016 with key stakeholders from the government, new and existing vaccine users, and vaccine providers to review the ideal features of the AIR to ensure optimal effectiveness. This workshop focused on the functionality needed to identify population groups newly included in the register and support the achievement of high immunisation coverage in these groups eligible for National Immunisation Program vaccines. RESULTS: Key recommendations included the need for bidirectional data flow between the AIR and providers; systematic approaches to the capture and recording of accurate and complete data to ascertain important denominators for subpopulations, includingAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, medical risk factors, occupation, ethnicity, country of birth, and vaccines given during pregnancy; linkage with other government datasets including notifiable diseases; the capture of adverse events following immunisation; ease of access by patients, providers; and by researchers. CONCLUSIONS: Some recommendations from the workshop have informed the development and future utility of the AIR. Some recommendations from the workshop have been integrated into the current iteration of the AIR, which is more important than ever given the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines. The accuracy and validity of data have subsequently improved through data entry controls, data integrity checks and reporting requirements. Access to AIR data for research remains protracted and costly, limitingresearch potential.

Why school is crucial to increase vaccination coverage for children: Evaluation of school vaccination check program in South Korea 2021-2022.

The School Vaccination Check Program (SVCP) is a public health measure that aims to achieve high levels of National Immunization Program (NIP) vaccination coverage for children by checking the completion of the vaccination schedule for students when they enter elementary or middle school. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SVCP was stopped in 2020 and 2021, and restarted in June-August 2022. In this study, we examined and quantified the relationship with SVCP and the vaccination uptake by comparing the vaccination coverage of 2021 and 2022. Based on the standard schedule, the vaccination records of DTaP5, IPV4, MMR2 and IJEV4 were evaluated for elementary school students. The Tdap6, IJEV5 and HPV1 were evaluated for the students from middle school. Using a difference-in-difference study design and national level big data, the study compared vaccination coverage as of August 2021 and 2022. The study found that the SVCP was effective in increasing vaccination coverage for targeted vaccinations such as DTaP5, IPV4, MMR2 and IJEV4 for elementary school students, and Tdap6, IJEV5 for middle school students. However, the SVCP did not show a statistically significant effect on increasing vaccination coverage on HPV1 for middle school students. School can play an important role to improve vaccination coverage. Therefore, close collaboration with health and education authority is crucial to accomplish successful vaccination program reducing vaccine preventable disease outbreaks in schools.