Adult Immunisation
Advancing adult immunisation for healthier ageing worldwide.
What Does Adult Immunisation Mean?
Immunisation plays a vital role in healthy ageing by protecting people from preventable diseases that can lead to serious complications, loss of independence, and reduced quality of life. For older adults, vaccination reduces the risk of severe illness, loss of function, hospitalisation, and death, while helping to prevent the worsening of chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory illnesses.
Beyond individual protection, immunisation supports population health by reducing disease transmission, easing pressure on health systems, and enabling people to remain active and engaged in society. Adult immunisation programmes are proven to be a cost-effective health intervention, yielding strong returns on investment by reducing healthcare costs, preventing hospitalisations, maintaining workforce participation, and supporting longer, healthier lives.
How Does the IFA Advance Adult Immunisation?
When adult immunisation emerged as a critical yet under-prioritised pillar of healthy ageing, the IFA partnered with leading experts and regional stakeholders to identify key gaps and barriers. Through expert roundtables and regional consultations, the IFA produced evidence-based reports and context-specific policy recommendations, and established Vaccines4Life (V4L) as a global knowledge hub to strengthen advocacy and accelerate action worldwide.
IFA’s work in adult immunisation mobilises and translates evidence into knowledge to inform and shape policies that improve population health, strengthen health systems, and support sustainable economies. Vaccines4Life aims to improve adult vaccination rates globally, thereby advancing healthy ageing and longevity. Since its establishment, it has helped bridge healthy ageing and immunisation agendas, engaging governments and advisory bodies to promote a life-course approach, including the systematic inclusion of older adults in immunisation policies and programmes.
Resource Spotlight
Policy Matters: Activating Policy Levers to Increase Prioritization of Adult Immunization
Through six country reports, this project examines gaps in national immunization policies and identifies key opportunities to strengthen the prioritization, access, and delivery of adult influenza vaccination.
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