TY - JOUR
T1 - COVID-19 vaccine policy development in a sample of 44 countries – Key findings from a December 2021 survey of National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs)
AU - Kahn, Anna Lea
AU - Steffen, Christoph A.
AU - Henaff, Louise
AU - MacDonald, Noni E.
AU - Morgan, Christopher
AU - Faden, Ruth
AU - Olayinka, Folake
AU - Desai, Shalini
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank all the respondents in the different NITAGs for providing the material for this review, and for their time and commitment. Appreciation is also due to the SAGE COVID-19 Working Group for its guidance in the conception of this study, as well as the members of the GNN Steering Committee for their detailed feedback on the survey objectives and design. The authors are also grateful to Dr Xavier Bosch-Capblanch from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute for providing an independent scientific review of the survey design. Additional acknowledgement is due to Carolina Danovaro-Holliday of WHO for her expert guidance during the analysis phase of the study, as well as to Jon Rizk for his statistical support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022
PY - 2023/1/16
Y1 - 2023/1/16
N2 - National Immunization Technical Advisory Committees (NITAGs) are tasked with the responsibility of guiding ministries of health and national immunization programmes in their policy development processes. Many NITAGs rely on evidence reviewed by the World Health Organization's (WHO) Strategic Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization and aim to adapt WHO's recommendations to their respective contexts. This relationship took on exceptional importance since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which NITAGs have expressed a notable struggle to craft appropriate policies on population prioritization and vaccine utilization in the face of supply constraints and complex programmatic and delivery logistics. This online survey was conducted to assess the usefulness of the SAGE guidance documents for COVID-19 vaccine policies and to examine the persisting needs and challenges facing NITAGs. Results confirmed that SAGE recommendations concerning COVID-19 vaccines are easy to access, understand, and adapt. They have been found to be comprehensive and timely under the data and time constrained circumstances confronting SAGE. The Global NITAG Network (GNN) appears to be the most popular vehicle for addressing questions among high income countries, in contrast to lower income countries who favour WHO Country or Regional Offices. NITAGs place much value on interaction with other NITAGs, which requires facilitation and could benefit from increased opportunities, especially within regions. It is further noted that some NITAGs have had to tackle issues during the pandemic not typically considered by SAGE, such as supply chain logistics and vaccine demand. Learning from the COVID-19 experience offers opportunities to strengthen NITAGs and the pandemic recovery effort through the development of more concrete procedures and consideration of more varied types of data, including implementation effectiveness and uptake data. There is also an opportunity for an increasing involvement of Country Office WHO personnel to support NITAGs, while ensuring information and evidence needs of countries are adequately reflected in SAGE deliberations.
AB - National Immunization Technical Advisory Committees (NITAGs) are tasked with the responsibility of guiding ministries of health and national immunization programmes in their policy development processes. Many NITAGs rely on evidence reviewed by the World Health Organization's (WHO) Strategic Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization and aim to adapt WHO's recommendations to their respective contexts. This relationship took on exceptional importance since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which NITAGs have expressed a notable struggle to craft appropriate policies on population prioritization and vaccine utilization in the face of supply constraints and complex programmatic and delivery logistics. This online survey was conducted to assess the usefulness of the SAGE guidance documents for COVID-19 vaccine policies and to examine the persisting needs and challenges facing NITAGs. Results confirmed that SAGE recommendations concerning COVID-19 vaccines are easy to access, understand, and adapt. They have been found to be comprehensive and timely under the data and time constrained circumstances confronting SAGE. The Global NITAG Network (GNN) appears to be the most popular vehicle for addressing questions among high income countries, in contrast to lower income countries who favour WHO Country or Regional Offices. NITAGs place much value on interaction with other NITAGs, which requires facilitation and could benefit from increased opportunities, especially within regions. It is further noted that some NITAGs have had to tackle issues during the pandemic not typically considered by SAGE, such as supply chain logistics and vaccine demand. Learning from the COVID-19 experience offers opportunities to strengthen NITAGs and the pandemic recovery effort through the development of more concrete procedures and consideration of more varied types of data, including implementation effectiveness and uptake data. There is also an opportunity for an increasing involvement of Country Office WHO personnel to support NITAGs, while ensuring information and evidence needs of countries are adequately reflected in SAGE deliberations.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Evidence-based decision-making
KW - NITAG
KW - National immunization technical advisory group
KW - Policy recommendations
KW - SAGE
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85143872241&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85143872241&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.11.029
DO - 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.11.029
M3 - Article
C2 - 36494252
AN - SCOPUS:85143872241
SN - 0264-410X
VL - 41
SP - 676
EP - 683
JO - Vaccine
JF - Vaccine
IS - 3
ER -