Recently, the Chinese governments have issued a policy document titled the “Outline of Strategic Planning for Expanding Domestic Demand (2022-2035)”, stating that China will “optimize the types of vaccines in the national immunization plan at an appropriate time, and gradually incorporate safe, effective and financially affordable vaccines into the national immunization plan.” This document indicates that the country has prioritized expansion of the traditional national immunization program, following administration of the new pneumonia vaccine which had an important protective role. In the future, it is expected that newer, safe, and effective vaccines will be included in the national immunization plan in a financially supported manner to further protect the lives and health of the people.
The invention of vaccines and vaccination is the greatest public health achievement of mankind. Equally important as the development of vaccines is their widespread availability. Governments around the world have made vaccination a top priority for public preventive services.
China’s immunization program has one of the largest vaccination coverage rates in the world. Compared to immunization program vaccines, the overall coverage of non-immunization program vaccines, which require voluntary self-administration, is low and varies greatly by region. The coverage rates of many WHO-recommended priority vaccines, such as pneumococcal vaccine (PCV), rotavirus vaccine, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, and haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine, are below the world average and many developing countries’ levels.
The Duke Kunshan University Innovation Lab for Vaccine Delivery Research, led by Professor Shenglan Tang, aims to strengthen the national immunization program and further improve the health of the population by producing high-quality scientific evidence and conducting policy advocacy activities. In order to comprehensively strengthen the immunization enterprise in China, the Innovation Lab has identified four key research areas, including: developing strategies related to strengthening the national immunization program, enhancing vaccine delivery efficiency and coverage, improving vaccine financing and services, and advocating for the inclusion of WHO-recommended priority vaccines in the national immunization program.
In October, Professor Shenglan Tang’s research team at the Innovation Lab for Vaccine Delivery Research published a research paper in The Lancet Public Health entitled “Developing an effective and sustainable national immunization programme in China: issues and challenges”, which systematically reviewed achievements of the national immunization programme, the current challenges, and suggested a more effective and sustainable strategy for the future development of the national immunization programme, including the improvement of the supporting policies of the Vaccine Administration Law, the establishment of an expansion mechanism of the immunization programme, and the improvement of the national immunization programme. It also suggests a more effective and sustainable strategy for the future development of national immunization planning, including improving the supporting policies of the Vaccine Administration Law, establishing an expansion mechanism for immunization planning, improving the funding model, strengthening the immunization team and personnel, and enhancing information systems. Based on this article, we found that a report by Knowledgeable entitled “The National Immunization Plan has not changed for 15 years, is it time to include new vaccines?” was read nearly 22,000 times.
The research results from different research teams have been published in The Lancet Public Health, Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, the Chinese Journal of Public Health, Modern Preventive Medicine and Chinese Health Economics. Several other papers are in progress.
In addition, Innovation Lab for Vaccine Delivery Research regularly invites national and international experts to hold workshops and active quarterly exchange meetings to facilitate networking and results sharing among lab members. The first workshop, held in November 2022, was on “Vaccine Procurement & Financing” and featured experts from Clinton Health Access Initiatives (CHAI) in addition to an internal team sharing results on the introduction of PCV in Indonesia. The second workshop will be held in January 2023 on the topic of “Reducing vaccine hesitancy and increasing vaccine uptake.” Professor Lavanya Vasudevan of Emory University is invited to share and discuss with the internal team the key challenges and interventions to address global vaccine hesitancy.
The Vaccine Delivery Innovation Lab is establishing its official website and will continue to make efforts in vaccine delivery innovation research, research results exchange and dissemination, and strive to build a high-quality vaccine delivery research community.