Experts debate the challenges to securing sustainable immunization financing
27 August 2021
Immunization is universally recognized as one of the most cost-effective public health interventions, yet low investment in immunization programs and variable vaccination coverage rates suggest that something else might be going on behind the scenes. Why is investment in immunization not as strong and sustainable as possible, even in settings where resources are generally available? As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic and to recover routine vaccination rates, policy solutions for sustaining immunization financing are more important and more pressing than ever.
Join ThinkWell for our second Counterpoint webinar “Sustainable Immunization Financing: Investing in Prevention to Secure Healthy Communities” on September 15 at 8:00 AM EST as we debate the issues that immunization programs face in securing and sustaining the resources they need to be able to deliver high-performing prevention services.
RSVP
We have invited an exciting group of experts to help explore and dig into the issues behind decisions that influence financing for immunization. Even in high and middle-income settings—immunization programs are not always prioritized by policymakers and those who advise them. Our debaters will reveal and discuss the hard truths about how and why sufficient public funding does not always materialize, despite generally widespread belief in the value of vaccines.
Moderator:
- Margaret Cornelius, Senior Technical Advisor, Private Sector, ThinkWell
Panelists:
- Stefan Swartling Peterson, MD, MPH, PhD, Professor of Global Transformations for Health, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
- Eduardo P. Banzon, Principal Health Specialist, Southeast Asia Regional Department, Asian Development Bank
- Ulla Kou Griffiths, Senior Advisor, UNICEF USA and Honorary Associate Professor, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- Catherine Goode, Goode Strategies
We hope you will join our debate as we push the frontier of thinking and discuss creative ways that countries can secure the health of their citizens by investing in strong and sustainably financed immunization programs. We invite you to share your questions and thoughts prior to and during the webinar!
RSVP
ThinkWell seeks to improve sustainable immunization financing in countries across the globe. Whether public immunization programs 1) do not have the funding required to sustain and expand their immunization schedules to respond to public health needs or 2) do not have financing structures that optimize immunization outcomes, every country can work to improve immunization financing. This webinar is part of a project that is supported by Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey USA.