According to the latest data available, vaccination coverage rates for childhood infectious disease vaccines have been high both in the European Region of WHO and in Hungary, but vaccination programs for vaccine-preventable adult diseases (e.g. the flu and pneumococcal pneumonia) have been significantly less effective.
“The weaknesses of these programs have also been highlighted by the experience gained from handling the COVID-19 outbreak. This is why the project led by WHO/Europe (DG4Health EU Project on Immunization equity) focuses on improving vaccination programs for children and adults in order to aim for higher vaccination coverage in general and, specifically, in vulnerable groups of society,” said János Sándor, Professor and Director of the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology at the University of Debrecen, Hungary.
It is the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology that acts as the contractor for the Hungarian survey in the project. At the end of last year, the preparation of a joint research program to identify the factors behind vaccine non-adherence was started, in which several staff members of the Institute have been involved (including Judit Diószegi, Ferenc Vincze, Nóra Kovács, Szabolcs Lovas, Gábor Rácz, Adél Horváth, Gabriella Nagy-Pénzes, Bernadett Bói, Zoltán Koós and János Sándor), who have also been working on a curriculum development collaboration project together with WHO experts.
“In the case of voluntary vaccination programs, vaccination coverage is determined by the cooperation between the health care system and the target population, which is based on mutual trust. In turn, the development of this trust depends to a large extent on conscious communication, in which physicians have a key role. Therefore, the training and preparation of residents and medical students for this area must also be addressed,” said János Sándor.
Thus, at their meeting on Thursday, experts from the WHO and the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, together with Professor and Director of Department of Behavioural Sciences Karolina Kósa, discussed the potential implementation of a joint project to develop teaching material and a curriculum for this purpose.
The WHO delegation was led by Head of WHO Country Office in Hungary Haris Hajrulahovic and Technical Officer of WHO Regional Office for Europe Brett Craig.
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