Increasing Measles Vaccination Coverage to Improve Global Health Security

Despite several decades of international effort focused on eliminating measles, inadequate immunization coverage has contributed to an increase in measles infections and deaths over the past two years. Several countries, including Yemen, India, and Kazakhstan, have experienced recent measles outbreaks, while people living in regions that have seen vaccination coverage decrease, in part due to disruptions to health services during the Covid-19 pandemic, are vulnerable to infection with this highly transmissible virus.

Please join the CSIS Global Health Policy Center for a discussion regarding gaps in measles immunization coverage and opportunities to halt measles outbreaks and reignite progress toward measles elimination. What steps can be taken to increase funding for immunization services? How can more resilient health systems better deliver measles vaccines? What technical advances can help health care providers reach remote communities with immunization services? And what communications strategies are most helpful in building people’s understanding and acceptance of measles vaccines? Katherine E. Bliss, Senior Fellow and Director of Immunizations and Health Systems Resilience at the CSIS Health Policy Center will be joined by Graça Matsinhe, National Immunization Technical Lead at MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity (M-RITE) Mozambique at JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., William Moss, Professor and Executive Director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Daniel Salas Peraza, Executive Manager of Comprehensive Immunization at the Pan-American Health Organization/WHO,.

This event is made possible by the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.