DECEMBER 2017 UPDATE
Written by Daphne Holt
As a founding member, CoMO was invited to attend the inaugural business meeting of the Coalition for Life-course Immunisation (CLCI) which was held as part of the Excellence in Paediatrics Conference (EiP) in Vienna on 8th December this year. The meeting confirmed past CoMO Vice President Daphne Holt as Chair of the Coalition and the terms of reference were accepted along with a strategic plan. The meeting also confirmed that the Coalition should be registered as a charitable organisation.
The business meeting was followed by a life-course immunisation focus group, co-chaired by Daphne along with other Coalition members. The focus group heard speakers from Spain, The Netherlands, Ireland and Greece who gave an overview of vaccine policies, changes made and steps taken in the last 12 months in their countries. This was complimented by a talk on disease surveillance & population coverage of vaccines across Europe and an update from the European Commission on their work in this area.
The second session of the focus group introduced CLCI along with four short interventions from Coalition members and guests which illustrated specific life-course immunisation projects in Europe. The focus group concluded with three round table sessions on the topics : Improving the Advocacy of all Healthcare Professionals; Overcoming Vaccine Hesitancy; and Building a Europe-wide Life-course Immunisation Strategy.
For more information on the Life-Course Initiative, email Sam Nye, CoMO's Executive Director.