The year ahead for the World Coalition on Adult Vaccination

The World Coalition on Adult Vaccination is going strong in 2017! The Coalition continues to add new members and remains committed to furthering engagement with experts and expertise in the fields of adult vaccination and ageing.  

Two Adult Vaccination meeting reports, the Latin American Immunization Advocacy Summit Report and the Asia Pacific Adult Immunization Meeting Report are set to be released in the coming months, with a focus on actionable goals for 2017 and beyond.

The Coalition has also been active through social media. The Adult Vaccination Twitter account has been gaining momentum since early January.  The World Coalition encourages organisations to share information to be tweeted to the Coalition network as a means of promoting adult vaccination globally.  Additionally, The World Coalition appreciates every follow and retweet! 

The Coalition looks forward to further discussion and developments and to the addition of new members in 2017!

Coming Soon!  Quem é Sênior Vacina,The Brazilian Society of Immunizations (SBIm) Communications Campaign

SBIm is working on an exciting new initiative, a communications campaign called Quem é Sênior Vacina aimed at promoting adult vaccination and increasing uptake rates for vaccination among older people.  

Find out more about the campaign by clicking here.

Valuing Vaccinations Across Generations Expands International Efforts 

Generations United is excited to be gaining momentum and expanding its international footprint with its awareness campaign, Valuing Vaccinations Across Generations .   

 

The campaign - which launched in 2016 with The Gerontological Society of America and The American Academy of Pediatrics, with funding from Pfizer  - aims to bridge the importance of immunizations within segmented groups into an intergenerational conversation within families and among different generations. In its first year, the campaign produced compelling and sharable content including an informational infographic and discussion guide about the critical importance of vaccinations across generations.

 

The initiative is now expanding its international efforts with the addition of new partners such as the Japan Geriatric Society  and Japan Intergenerational Unity Association as well as the Spanish Society on Geriatrics & Gerontology and University of Grenada, among others. The partners in Japan and Spain are working to adapt existing materials and develop new, culturally appropriate resources for their respective countries.

 

To learn more about this important initiative visit https://bandageofhonor.org/

USMP - Centro de Investigación del Envejecimiento

As part of the existing evidence and the commitments made at the Faculty of Human Medicine of the University of San Mart­ín de Porres  have reinforced the contents and attitudes on the subject in the course of Undergraduate Geriatrics, in the programs of Postgraduate courses such as medical residency in Geriatrics and we have developed health literacy activities through media and social networks and we have developed health literacy activities through media and social networks 

In CIEN, research is being carried out on the state of vaccination in older adults and factors to improve it.

Also, our teachers participated in the ALMA course on Prevention in the Elderly  , where we spent a whole morning to analyze the evidence and utility of vaccines. The contents and conclusions of this course have been organized in a book on the subject that will be launched at regional level in alliance with PALTEX and PAHO.

Vaccines Today , a founding member of the World Coalition on Adult Vaccination, has a new-look website. The revamped site is more user-friendly, highly visual and optimised for mobile devices - but is still at the same address: www.vaccinestoday.eu 

The website includes a page on vaccination for people of all ages , with short sections dedicated to adults and older people.

In recent weeks, Vaccines Today has reported from the European Public Health Conference in Vienna. Among the speakers at a session on the value of life-course immunisation was Dr Jane Barratt, Secretary General of the International Federation on Ageing.

Another of the headline-grabbing talks at this high-profile annual event came from Professor David Bloom, a Harvard Economist, who said the  full value of vaccination had been 'underestimated' . He also said that adult vaccination will play a crucial role in keeping us healthier for longer.

Greek health economist Dr Kostas Athanasakis, also on the panel, shared the surprising  story of how Greece expanded its vaccination schedule in the midst of the deepest economic crisis every recorded in the developed world.

Vaccines Today has produced a new video on the role of vaccines in tackling antimicrobial resistance. Watch to find out how vaccines against flu and pneumococcal disease - often used by older people - reduce hospitalisation and antibiotic use. 

In Singapore, the older adult population will double in 2030 and the present focus is on prevention and population health. Hospital admissions lead to catastrophic disability amongst older adults, and pneumonia is one of the major causes of hospitalisation and mortality. 

At the National University Hospital, there are many missed opportunities to vaccinate older people against influenza and pneumococcal when they were hospitalised for related or unrelated conditions. Vaccinating older adults is one of the least explored and probably one of the most cost effective paths to successful aging and maintaining a healthy workforce. The older one is, the more important it is to focus on preventive aspects such vaccination and falls prevention.

Since July 2016, a quality improvement initiative has been launched at the National University Hospital to improve inpatient and outpatient vaccination rates especially for those with chronic disease and above 65 years old. Common barriers to improving vaccination uptake have been identified, including doctor factors, patient factors and system factor including lack of public knowledge on vaccination. In addition to physicians, pharmacists and nursing staff are involved in a new intiative.  All eligible patients admitted to Geriatric and Internal Medicine wards has a standardised vaccination checklist clipped to their parameters board with regular education for nursing staff and residents. Besides involving multidisciplinary team members, one of the main focuses as an academic institution is to educate future doctors across the 5 years of their curriculum and work closely with immediate & long term care (ILTC) team members.  Continuing education to the Singaporean population through media and publications plays an important role. 

Submitted by: Professor Reshma Merchant,  Head of Division of Geriatric Medicine,

University Medicine Cluster

Adult Immunization at the 1st "Infectología Hoy" Symposium 

Shingles vaccination uptake falling (UK)

 

Adult vaccination: Prevention of Flu and Pneumonia

As every year, the peak of flu season is here. Influenza has an important impact in people with chronic diseases, especially the elderly, due to respiratory problems, hospitalizations and deaths. It also produces an overload in the health-care services.  

Although not all the flu-like syndromes are caused by influenza viruses, nor all lower respiratory tract infection are caused by Streptococcus Pneumoniae, the vaccines we have, prevent serious respiratory infections. If vaccine coverage was not so poor, the clinical effectiveness could be clearly greater so all of us should be engaged in improving the uptake rate of adult vaccinations.  

Flu vaccination is the single best way to prevent the flu and its complications. V accination efforts should focus on  patients at high risk, especially people with certain morbidities and older adults. In these groups, the vaccine halves the risk of complications.  

There are 2 types of vaccines against pneumococcal infection, polysaccharide (VNP-23v) and conjugate vaccines (VNC-13v and VNC-10v, the latter only indicated for  adults and children 5 years or older). Currently the conjugate vaccines are being widely used in the systematic vaccination of children and have shown that high coverage in the infant population produces an indirect benefit among old people.

Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (semFYC)- Infectious Diseases Group and Infection Prevention Group PAPPS

The Subsidy Approach on Vaccines for Seniors in Japan

Japan ranks among the world leaders in the health of its citizens. In stark contrast to many positive health indicators, the country is known to have a persistently high rate of vaccine-preventable diseases. 

The current immunization program was established under the Japanese Immunization Law. Its purpose is to carry out immunization to prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases. To enhance the system, it undergoes several reforms through redefinition of target diseases and target populations. In 2002, a system was introduced that requires municipalities to provide subsidies for the influenza vaccine to seniors aged 65 or over. In 2014, the system was extended to the pneumococcal vaccine. In Akita Prefecture for instance, the subsidy scheme is as follows:

Although the Akita municipality subsidizes these vaccines, costs vary among health centers. A hospital or clinic might decide to administer a vaccine cheaper than the standard rate. Nevertheless, uptake rates are still relatively low, partly driven by lack of awareness especially of the new policy on pneumococcal vaccine. Also, doctors alone as licensed vaccinators are not enough to maximize access to vaccines.

Although many barriers still and do exist, the government is continuously seeking out strategies to close the 'vaccine gap' with great hope for progress.

Click here for further reference on the vaccination policy in Japan.

The seroprevalence to rubella virus was determined in a sample of adults (aged 20 to 55 years or older) resident in Portugal. The analysed sample was calculated to be nationally representative and corresponding to 1175 individuals, 583 male and 592 female distributed by the seven territorial units (NUTII) of Portugal (North Centre, Lisbon Alentejo, Algarve, Madeira and Azores).

Rubella IgG antibodies were detected in 1032 individuals corresponding to 87.8%: 85.2% in male and 90.4% in female. Due to the risk of rubella infection in pregnant women the results were also analysed in the group of women of childbearing age. This analysis showed that women between 20 and 44 years have a rubella seroprevalence of 93.2% with values above 95% in all regions of Portugal mainland while Madeira presented a percentage of 92.3% and Azores 86%.

The results of this study showed a high seroprevalence to rubella virus mainly in women at childbearing age in all regions with exception of Azores. These results were however lower in comparison to the previous NSS 2000-2002 and the values of MMR vaccination coverage especially in males. This study indicated that rubella prevention cannot be minimized specially in certain regions and population groups. 

Click here for more information on this topic. 

Submitted by:  Paula Palminha, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Lisbon, Portugal