Ciudad Juarez.- The Universal Vaccination Program (PVU) requires restructuring and greater resources to guarantee the sufficient purchase of vaccines and ensure that they reach the right person, in the right way and at the right time, according to a diagnosis published in the journal Public Health of Mexico.
The diagnosis, drawn up after a roundtable discussion between a group of independent national and international experts and the staff in charge of the operation of the PVU, indicates that the programme, whose foundations were established 50 years ago, has achieved significant successes, but is facing increasing difficulties in fulfilling its mission and has recorded setbacks in its coverage.
Among the difficulties, he highlights the limitations in infrastructure, in particular that of an insufficient and unsustainable cold chain, due to lack of maintenance and replacement, and the lack of personnel, including vaccinators and promoters. He also warns about the insufficiency of financing and the shortage of vaccines due to non-compliance in delivery by suppliers.
“Mexico’s current vaccine supply model depends entirely on purchases from transnational producers. The last two pandemics have shown that it is necessary to invest in a national vaccine development and acquisition plan,” he said.
The fragmentation of the health sector and the predominance of a passive model of intramural vaccination, he adds, also reduce the efficiency of the PVU. He highlights the inadequacy of the current system for monitoring the application of vaccines and calls for progress in establishing a nominal registry to have a tool to more accurately assess coverage. He also calls for reviewing the current “menu” of the PVU, which includes 13 vaccines with primary schedules plus boosters – where required – which cover all stages of life. He recommends evaluating the incorporation and gradual introduction in pediatric age of the vaccines against chickenpox (one dose), hepatitis A (one dose) and respiratory syncytial virus for pregnant women and/or monoclonal antibody for minors. He also proposes developing specific vaccination strategies in special populations, such as health workers, personnel with high contact with the population, public daycare centers and schools, as well as in residences for older adults.
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