Immunization

Nurse vaccinates child

During the XXV Meeting of the Pan American Health Organization’s Directing Council in September 1977, Resolution CD25.R27 was issued with the objective to reduce morbidity and mortality from common childhood and vaccine-preventable diseases and to create and expand permanent vaccination services in the primary healthcare system. This Resolution set the stage for the Expanded Program on Immunization’s objectives and policy declaration, and operational guidelines were then generated to help the countries in the Region of the Americas develop their immunization programs and to encourage the formulation of country-specific plans to maintain and intensify long-term immunization activities within their own health systems.  

Under the direction of Dr. Ciro de Quadros (1940-2014), the Resolution was implemented in the countries of the Region. Dr. de Quadros was central to the Immunization Program’s fundamental structure, both in the Region and throughout the world. He dedicated his life to defending health as a basic human right and worked tirelessly to increase access to vaccines. As a result, millions of children across the world have lived full, disease-free lives and grown up to become healthy and productive adults.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Expanded Program on Immunization, and in recognition to Dr. de Quadro’s legacy, this special issue summarizes the past, critically analyzes the present, and provides new perspectives on the challenges and opportunities that the Immunization Program in the Region of the Americas will face in the future.

The Pan American Journal of Public Health recognizes with appreciation the contributions of the members of the EditorialCommittee:Jon K. Andrus (Adjoint Professor and Director of the Division of Vaccines and Immunization, Center for Global Health, University of Colorado, Colorado, United States); Ananda Sankar Bandyopadhyay (Senior Program Officer, Polio, Global Development, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, United States); M. Carolina Danovaro-Holliday (Scientist, Global Immunization Monitoring and Surveillance Group, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland); Vance Dietz (Immunization Services Division, US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, United States); Carla Domingues (Coordenadora Geral do Programa Nacional de Imunizações Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde Ministério da Saúde, Brasilia, Brazil); J. Peter Figueroa  (TAG Chair, Professor of Public Health, Epidemiology & HIV/AIDS, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica); Leila Posenato Garcia (Secretaria de Vigilancia Epidemiológica, Ministério da Saúde, Brasilia, Brazil); Alan Hinman (Consulting Senior Advisor, Center for Vac­cines Equity, Task Force for Global Health, Decatur, United States); Mirta Roses (Director Emeritus, Pan American Health Organization, Buenos Aires, Argentina); Cuauhtémoc Ruiz Matus (Unit chief, Family Immunization Unit, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, D.C., United States);Jose Ignácio Santos (Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico); and Fred Were (Dean, School of Medicine, University of Nairobi Kenyatta National Hospital Campus, Nairobi, Kenya).

Their contributions and dedication to this issue on immunization in the Region of the Americas were extraordinary and helped make the manuscripts more interesting, more accurate, and more useful to our readers and all others who work to improve the health of the peoples of the Americas.

The Journal would like to give special thanks to the General Coordination of the National Immunization Program, Department of Transmissible Disease Surveillance, Health Surveillance Secretariat, Ministry of Health, Brazil, whose financial and programmatic contributions were essential to the publication of this special issue.

Expanded Program on Immunization in the Americas: 40 years [El Programa Ampliado de Inmunización en la Región de las Américas: 40 años*]

Carissa F. Etienne
Editorial | PDF (English) PDF (español) | Published 12 February 2018 |

The past, present, and future of immunization in the Americas [El pasado, el presente y el futuro de la inmunización en las Américas*]

Jon Kim Andrus, Ananda Sankar Bandyopadhyay, M. Carolina Danovaro-Holliday, Vance Dietz, Carla Domingues, J. Peter Figueroa, Leila Posenato Garcia, Alan Hinman, Mirta Roses, Cuauhtémoc Ruiz Matus, Jose Ignácio Santos, Fred Were
Overview | PDF (English PDF (español) | Published 20 December 2017|

Leadership in global health: the case of Ciro de Quadros, a testament to values, valor, and vision [Liderança na saúde global: o caso de Ciro de Quadros, um exemplo de valores, coragem e visão]

Jon Kim Andrus
Profile | PDF (EnglishPDF (portuguese) | Published 20 December 2017|

MMR2 vaccination coverage and timeliness among children born in 2004 – 2009: a national survey in Saint Lucia, 2015 [Cobertura de vacunación y respeto de los plazos de la segunda dosis de la vacuna triple viral en los niños nacidos en el período 2004–2009: encuesta nacional realizada en Santa Lucía en el 2015]

Sharon Belmar-George, Julietta Cassius-Frederick, Phil Leon, Sonia Alexander, Yvette Holder, Karen Nadine Lewis-Bell, M. Carolina Danovaro-Holliday, and Pamela Bravo-Alcántara
Original research | PDF (English) | Published 05 June 2018 |

The evolution of Vaccination Week in the Americas [La evolución de la Semana de Vacunación en las Américas]

Alba Maria Ropero Alvarez, Hannah Jane Kurtis, Lauren Vulanovic, Hayatee Hasan, Cuauhtémoc Ruiz, and Elizabeth Thrush
Special report | PDF (English) | Published 20 December 2017|

The path towards polio eradication over 40 years of the Expanded Program on Immunization in the Americas [El camino hacia la erradicación de la poliomielitis en los 40 años del Programa Ampliado de Inmunización en la Región de las Américas]

Cristina Pedreira, Elizabeth Thrush, Gloria Rey-Benito, Ana Elena Chévez, and Barbara Jauregui
Opinion and analysis | PDF (English) | Published 20 December 2017|

Progress towards a comprehensive approach to maternal and neonatal immunization in the Americas [Progreso hacia un método integral de inmunización materna y neonatal en la Región de las Américas]

Alba Maria Ropero Alvarez,Barbara Jauregui,and Nathalie El Omeiri
Opinion and analysis | PDF (English) | Published 20 December 2017|

Policies and processes for human papillomavirus vaccination in Latin America and the Caribbean [Políticas y procesos relacionados con la vacunación contra el virus del papiloma humano en América Latina y el Caribe]

Fernando De la Hoz Restrepo,Nelson Alvis Guzman,Alejandro De la Hoz Gomez,and Cuauhtémoc Ruiz
Original research | PDF (English) | Published 20 December 2017|

The Expanded Program on Immunization in the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean (1977–2016): reasons for its success [Programa Ampliado de Inmunización en el Caribe de habla inglesa y holan­desa (1977-2016): las razones de su éxito]

Karen N. Lewis-Bell, Beryl Irons, Elizabeth Ferdinand, Laura L. Jackson, and J. Peter Figueroa
Special report | PDF (English) | Published 20 December 2017|

El desafío de la sostenibilidad de los programas ampliados de inmunizaciones [The challenge of sustainability of expanded programs on immunization]

Ernesto Báscolo, Camilo Cid, Juan Pablo Pagano, María Soledad Urrutia y Amalia Del Riego
Original research | PDF (español) | Published 20 December 2017|

Impact and effectiveness of meningococcal vaccines: a review [Examen del impacto y la efectividad de las vacunas antimeningocócicas]

Lucia Helena De Oliveira, Barbara Jauregui, Ana Flavia Carvalho, and Norberto Giglio
Review | PDF (English) | Published 20 December 2017|

Knowing the scope of meningococcal disease in Latin America [Conocer el alcance de la enfermedad meningocócica en América Latina]

Marco A. P. Sáfadi, María Teresa Valenzuela, Ana Flavia Carvalho, Lúcia Helena De Oliveira, David M. Salisbury, and Jon Kim Andrus
Special report | PDF (English) | Published 20 December 2017|

Motivos de no vacunación en menores de cinco años en cuatro ciudades colombianas [Reasons some children under 5 do not get vaccinated in four Colombian cities]

Fabio Escobar-Díaz, May Bibiana Osorio-Merchán y Fernando De la Hoz- Restrepo
Original research | PDF (español) | Published 20 December 2017|

Risk analysis for the reintroduction and transmission of measles in the post-elimination period in the Americas [Análisis del riesgo de reintroducción y transmisión del sarampión durante el período posterior a la eliminación en la Región de las Américas]

Daniele Rocha Queiroz Lemos, Aidee Ramirez Franco, Márcio Henrique de Oliveira Garcia, Desireé Pastor, Pâmela Bravo-Alcântara, José Cássio de Moraes,Carla Domingues, and Luciano Pamplona de Góes Cavalcanti
Original research | PDF (English) | Published 20 December 2017|

Experiencia del desarrollo de herramientas para el monitoreo de coberturas de vacunación y quimioterapia preventive[Experience with develop­ment of tools to monitor vaccination coverage and preventive chemotherapy coverage]

Martha Idalí Saboyá-Díaz, Ana Morice,M. Carolina Danovaro-Holliday, Cuauhtémoc Ruiz Matus, Luis Gerardo Castellanos y Martha Patricia Velandia- González
Original research | PDF (español) | Published 20 December 2017|