Lois Privor-Dumm

Experts

Director, Adult Vaccines

Lois Privor-Dumm is Director of Adult Vaccines, Senior Advisor, Policy Advocacy & Communications at the International Vaccine Access Center.

BIOGRAPHY

As Sr. Advisor, Policy Advocacy & Communications and Director of Adult Immunization at the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), Lois Privor-Dumm focuses on immunization policy issues across the life course in a broad range of countries. Her research interests include understanding of the drivers of and barriers to country policies, characterizing country archetypes, stakeholder analysis, and factors impacting national vaccine decision-making and equitable uptake, with specific focus on pneumococcal, Hib, rotavirus, influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. More recently, Lois has focused on community engagement and vaccine acceptance in underserved populations in Baltimore City and preparation for COVID-19 vaccines in both the US and globally. Lois has worked in more than 70 countries to help accelerate equitable access to new and underutilized vaccines including Hib, pneumococcal, rotavirus, influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. Much of her focus has been in large countries, including India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia to support immunization decisions and work with local stakeholders to build an enabling environment for vaccines. Lois' advocacy work focuses on both the broader value of vaccines and their contributions to the sustainable development goals, including the Value of Immunization Compendium of Evidence (VoICE) and the annual Pneumonia and Diarrhea Progress Report to provide advocates with evidence to drive change. Lois' teaching focuses on vaccine policy and advocacy and she has trained hundreds of country-level professionals.Prior to coming to Hopkins, Lois spent more than 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry working in a variety of commercial, operational, forecasting, market research and analysis, and R&D strategy roles in both human and animal health. Lois managed multiple strategies and initiatives for the launch of the first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in the US, and worked with countries in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East to introduce PCV, Hib vaccine and MenC vaccines.

MEDIA APPEARANCES

Maryland’s Slow Vaccine Rollout, Explained

The National Interest

January 13, 2021

Lois Privor-Dumm, director of adult immunization at the Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Center, said, “There have been many hurdles that all health systems have faced that make the distribution process challenging. The biggest is probably limited information on the number of doses and when the vaccine arrives,” noting that “if the vaccine is reactogenic,” hospital staff has to “stagger vaccinations” in case there is an adverse reaction. The coronavirus vaccine isn’t like the flu shot, where a person can just get it and leave. Instead, those who receive it must wait nearly fifteen minutes after, being monitored by staff.

Why isn't more COVID-19 vaccine available immediately?

Yahoo! Finance

December 28, 2020

"We’ve never distributed vaccines on this scale before," said Lois Privor-Dumm, director of adult vaccines at the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "We’re talking about trying to reach the whole planet, essentially.”

Experts worry that a COVID-19 vaccine won't help if not enough people are willing to get one

The Enterprise

August 13, 2020

More research will also be needed to fully appreciate this hesitation, said Lois Privor-Dumm, a senior research associate with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an expert in vaccine introduction."Understanding and respecting what people believe and what is important to them is really crucial," she said.

The public’s role in COVID-19 vaccination: Human-centered recommendations to enhance pandemic vaccine awareness, access, and acceptance in the United States

Vaccine

Given the social and economic upheavals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, political leaders, health officials, and members of the public are eager for solutions. One of the most promising, if they can be successfully developed, is vaccines. While the technological development of such countermeasures is currently underway, a key social gap remains.

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Determinants of policy and uptake of national vaccine programs for pregnant women: results of mixed method study from Spain, Italy, and India

Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics

An important strategy for addressing maternal and newborn risks of disease is through vaccinating pregnant women. We conducted a mixed-methods study including a narrative literature review of drivers of maternal vaccination and key informant interviews in Spain, Italy, and India to characterize different approaches to national maternal immunization programs. Fifty-nine respondents participated in the study conducted between November 2018 and January 2019. Policies in Spain and Italy both reflect a life-course approach to vaccination, but recommendations and how they ensure uptake differs.

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A global agenda for older adult immunization in the COVID-19 era: A roadmap for action

Vaccine

Given our global interconnectedness, the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgency of building a global system that can support both routine and pandemic/epidemic adult immunization. As such, a framework to recommend vaccines and build robust platforms to deliver them to protect the rapidly expanding demographic of older adults is needed. Adult immunization as a strategy has the broad potential to preserve and improve medical, social, and economic outcomes, including maintaining functional ability that benefits older adults, their families, communities, and countries.

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Archetype analysis of older adult immunization decision-making and implementation in 34 countries

Vaccine

The global population of adults over 65 years of age is growing rapidly and is expected to double by 2050. Countries will face substantial health, economic and social burden deriving from vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) such as influenza, pneumonia and herpes zoster in older adults. It will be essential that countries utilize several public health strategies, including immunization. Understanding the different approaches countries have taken on adult immunization could help provide future learnings and technical support for adult vaccines within life-course immunization strategies.

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Cholera control and prevention: Role of evidence-based advocacy and communications

Vaccine

Evidence-based communications and policy outreach are critical elements in building awareness about a disease, build public momentum and decision making and resource mobilization. In India, communications and advocacy played an important role in managing diseases like HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, tuberculosis, etc. and addressing barriers to adoption of new health interventions.

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