Guest Contributors

While most countries have established routine immunization programs, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted critical vulnerabilities in the vaccine manufacturing and supply chain systems and significant gaps in equitable access to vaccines as essential medical countermeasures.(1,2)  During the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines were developed at a record-breaking speed, only 10 months into the pandemic. However, access to COVID-19 vaccines was largely disparate with eight of every 10 vaccination doses having gone to high-income countries.(3) Of the just over six billion doses administered globally by the end of September 2021, 75% were administered in high- and upper-middle income countries (which constitute 50% of the global population) and only 25% in low- and low-middle income countries (which constitute the other 50%).(4)

Recent declines in childhood vaccination coverage in the United States have raised concern among vaccine scientists. Kindergarten vaccination rates have decreased across multiple states (CDC 2023), and exemption rates for one or more childhood vaccines increased from 3.3% to 3.6% across 40 states.

Few public health interventions have transformed human health as profoundly as vaccination. Over the past five decades, vaccines have saved an estimated 154 million lives worldwide and continue to prevent millions of deaths every year. These numbers represent children who grew up healthy, families that remained whole, and communities able to prosper because diseases were prevented.

Pharmacovigilance in vaccines is the indispensable science and systematic discipline dedicated to detecting, assessing, understanding, and preventing adverse events following immunization, thereby safeguarding unwavering...

The interaction between nutritional status and systemic immune response has been established for decades. Optimal nutritional status is associated with a better immune response, while conditions that compromise nutritional health contribute to a higher risk of infectious diseases, their clinical course, and prognosis.

The presence of an Immunization Committee within a specialized medical association is a fundamental pillar to guarantee the quality, relevance and scientific rigor of the recommendations issued in the field of vaccination. Vaccines represent, historically and currently, the most effective and cost-efficient public health intervention for the prevention of infectious diseases, the reduction of complications and the reduction of infant mortality. I

Dr. María Luisa Ávila Agüero. Pediatric Infectious Diseases Specialist, former Minister of Health of Costa Rica, and Past President of the Latin American Society...

Rolando Ulloa-Gutierrez, MD. Servicio de Aislamiento, Hospital Nacional de Niños “Dr. Carlos Sáenz Herrera”, Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS). Member, Academia Nacional de...

By Eduardo Antonio Lara-Pérez, MD. Pediatrician and Pediatric Pulmonologist. Mexican Academy of Pediatrics. Professor, CEO Medical Health Fraternity "Doctors United for Mexico" Introduction The history of...

Frederic W. Nikiema, MD, Msc Direction Régionale l'Ouest, Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso Introduction Neonatal tetanus (NT), a brutal and preventable killer, continues...