2021 Conference Series: Renewing the U.S. Immunization Agenda
Friday, January 29, 2021 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
As the world passes one year of the coronavirus pandemic, multiple vaccine candidates have completed phase III trials, been approved, and are being prepared for global delivery. But amid what promises to be an unprecedented global introduction effort, countries are still working to restore routine immunization services and campaigns that had been disrupted or suspended earlier in the pandemic, leaving many children at risk of other outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Despite evidence of the value of routine immunization services, health professionals continue to grapple with the diversion of resources to the Covid-19 response, rising costs, the slowdown of supply chains, and community fear and mistrust. To what extent has the pandemic affected country experiences with routine vaccination? And what are the prospects for revitalizing progress on routine immunization coverag
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Note: The views expressed in this commentary reflect the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily represent the policies or official positions of their organizations.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began roughly a year ago, public health officials have recorded more than 2 million deaths and almost 100 million infections from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, with the actual number likely substantially higher. Healthcare systems have been overwhelmed with caring for those suffering serious consequences of infection, straining the capacity of even the most sophisticated hospitals around the globe. Healthcare workers have struggled with exhaustion, and many have died caring for the sick. Routine healthcare services have been disrupted, including disease prevention programs such as childhood immunizations, which will have consequences for the foreseeable future.
Much of the huge price tag for Biden’s pandemic plan would help people who are financially struggling because of COVID-19, offering $1400 checks, rent and food assistance, and expanded health care and unemployment benefits. But Biden also wants Congress to allocate $400 billion of the money to bolster the pandemic response, with $160 billion of that going toward mounting “a national vaccination program,” expanding diagnostic testing for COVID-19, and hiring 100,000 new community health workers nearly tripling the 59,000 now doing the work. They would promote vaccination and trace contacts of newly infected people, but they are also intended to become a permanent fixture in the U.S. public health infrastructure.
Press release content from Globe Newswire. The AP news staff was not involved in its creation.
Sabin Vaccine Institute Funds Researchers to Investigate COVID-19 Misinformation, Design .
The Sabin Vaccine InstituteJanuary 13, 2021 GMT
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) The Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) announced today that it has awarded grants to research teams in four countries to explore the social drivers of COVID-19 misinformation, and its impact on routine immunization acceptance and the acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The grants are part of Sabin’s Social and Behavioral Interventions for Vaccination Acceptance Small Grants Program, which provides funding to researchers in low- and middle-income countries to better understand the social drivers of vaccination and design small-scale interventions to assess their impact on vaccination acceptance.