Challenges and Strategies for Enhancing Vaccination Coverage and Equity

Dear Colleagues,

The latest reports from WHO and UNICEF on vaccines show a world struggling to sustain and increase immunization coverage. Vaccine-preventable diseases that were under control and eliminated in some countries have made a comeback and are causing thousands of cases and quite a few deaths. Countries across continents—or are on the verge of losing—their measles elimination status, and countries that had gone years without a single case are now reporting cases imported from abroad.

The impact of the pandemic on vaccination coverage is well known, and there is ample evidence explaining why it occurred and the damage it caused. What is missing is research or reports on how to enhance vaccination coverage, reach zero-dose children, which catch-up strategies actually work, and how to improve equity in vaccine access in a world that has seen a significant reduction in global funding to improve the lives of children with what should be the most equity-stabilizing intervention: vaccines.

Many questions come to mind when we try to understand what is happening and what can be done to improve those conditions. Is it a matter of funding, of laws, of prices, or better planning? Is it a single cause or is it multifactorial? The world, and under-protected children, need us to provide recommendations for rapid change and improvement.

Nevertheless, the remaining challenges are increasing coverage and enhancing equity. Countries struggling with those issues need new evidence on how to implement strategies towards achieving their goals. We are pleased to invite you to submit your research related to the title of the Special Issue.

What has caused coverage to drop, and what can be done to correct it? Are these financial, legal, or operational issues causing the drop in coverage alone, or is it related to budget, budget allocation, and budget utilization?

Submitted papers should explain what contributes to equal access to vaccines and how to achieve it, with a particular focus on the relationship between global financing and its impact on vaccine access in countries in the Global South or those living in areas of conflict. Understanding of national financing, equal access to vaccines, and their combined allocation and utilization is relevant to this issue.

The cost of novel vaccines raises a critical question about equitable access: can this be achieved through national and/or regional vaccine manufacturing? It also raises the question of whether countries are investing enough in R&D around vaccines in LMICs.

We aim to develop an issue with at least 10 articles exploring the above-mentioned topics.

• Equal access to vaccines;
• Effects of diminishing global funding on equal access to vaccines;
• National funding allocation for vaccines and its effects on coverage;
• Strategies towards reducing the number of zero-dose children;
• Vaccine laws as a means for equal immunization access;
• PHC role and strategies in life course vaccination access;
• National/regional vaccine production: a way to equal access to vaccines;
• Costs of vaccine innovation, a deterrent for equal access;
• Impact of vaccination beyond effectiveness.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Francisco Becerra-Posada
Dr. Carlos Espinal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• vaccine access
• vaccine costs
• vaccine financing
• vaccine laws
• global funding
• zero-dose children
• PHC and vaccines
• vaccine production