Vaccines 4 Life Program

Vaccination is an important element of a comprehensive health promotion strategy to healthy ageing, as science shows reduced burden of infectious diseases, decreased functional decline and additional healthy life years. As people age, immune system function declines, leaving older people at a higher risk for infectious diseases such as shingles, pneumonia and influenza.

Vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) such as these can lead to increased risk of hospitalization, need for continuing care services and premature death. In fact, infectious diseases are a main cause of morbidity and mortality amongst older people, despite being largely preventable through vaccination. In response to a significant gap in the understanding from patient and advocacy organizations about the impact of short, medium, and long-term consequences of vaccine preventable diseases in adults the IFA has grown to be one of the leading voices and advocates for adult vaccination.

Working at global, country and regional levels the IFA vaccines4life program aims unify messages and collective actions across to stakeholders to drive policy and practice change. Inherent to this focus is improving the uptake rates of adult vaccination by understanding local barriers and helping to build the capacity of in-country collaborators to influence policy. The IFA has formed strong, multi-sectoral partnerships to improve adult vaccination uptake rates which is well demonstrated through the establishment of the World Coalition on Adult Vaccination. The Coalition serves as a global knowledge exchange and dissemination outreach platform through educational webinars, newsletters, and a virtual expert member center where some of the world’s top thought leaders on adult vaccines, at-risk groups and patient engagement are featured.

IFA-led expert meetings on adult vaccination have been convened in many countries around the world, acting as platforms to build a sustainable advocacy network and strategy that focuses on addressing specific barriers preventing a more comprehensive approach to changing policy. Outcomes of meetings have included consensus statements, published articles, policy related meetings with decision-makers, awareness raising activities, and changes to policy.