World Immunization Week 2018: Vaccination in at-risk groups
This week is World Immunization Week (WIW) with the theme of “Protected Together, #VaccinesWork.” World Immunization Week is a campaign led by the World Health Organization (WHO) which highlights the “importance of community” in establishing herd immunity, increasing vaccination education and uptake, and countering vaccine hesitancy.
The International Federation on Ageing (IFA) believes that vaccination in at-risk groups – including older people and people with cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases – is an important area of focus, as vaccination has the potential to mitigate higher rates of morbidity and mortality in at-risk populations and enable those who are vulnerable to age in better health.
According to the WHO, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are diseases of long duration and generally slow progression that are not caused by an infectious agent (i.e. not transmissible). Many older people have dual disease burdens of NCDs which increase their likelihood of experiencing complications due to influenza, pneumonia or shingles.[i] The convergence of NCDs and infectious diseases presents new challenges and new opportunities to enact responsive changes in policy and research.
Vaccine preventable diseases have serious and often life-threatening costs for older people with an already weakened immunity that are often magnified by chronic co-morbid conditions. Laying the groundwork for healthy ageing begins long before one thinks about growing older, and vaccination is identifiable as a key component of this work, especially for vulnerable populations.
In honour of WIW, and in line with the theme of building community, the IFA has collaborated on a joint statement on the value of life course vaccination with several partner organisations from the World Coalition on Adult Vaccination, who are doing important work vaccination.
Follow IFA’s @vaccines4life Twitter account.
[i] Jung, Hee-Won, and Kwang-il Kim. “Multimorbidity in older adults.” Journal of the Korean Geriatrics Society 18.2 (2014): 65-71.
Pneumococcal disease is a leading cause of hospitalization and mortality in Canada. There is a high prevalence of this disease amongst populations that are most at-risk of serious complications from infection, such as older adults in long-term care settings.
The ‘Driving the agenda of pneumococcal pneumonia vaccination in at-risk populations in community and long-term care’ study was conducted to understand the status of existing public health policies and campaigns on pneumococcal disease in community and long-term care settings and its implications on the uptake of pneumococcal vaccination. The report highlights policy gaps for pneumococcal vaccination across long-term care settings in Canada and accordingly provides recommendations for policy improvements.
Pneumococcal disease is a leading cause of hospitalization and mortality in Canada. There is a high prevalence of this disease amongst populations that are most at-risk of serious complications from infection, such as older adults in long-term care settings. Check out the technical report to learn more.
27 April 2023, Toronto, ON – The International Federation on Ageing (IFA) is proud to release findings from a recent study entitled Driving the agenda of pneumococcal pneumonia vaccination in at-risk populations in community and long-term care. Check out the technical report to learn more.
IFA acknowledges support from GSK and Sanofi Pasteur for Vaccines4Life through unrestricted educational grants and is proud to be part of the Vaccines Safety Net (VSN) Database.
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