12 July 2016
On May 24th, CoMO organised a parliamentary meeting entitled, ‘Life Course Vaccination: From Babyhood to Healthy Ageing – what are the priorities?’ in the heart of the European Union in Brussels. This meeting was part of our Life Course Immunisation Initiative, which aims to unite countries from all over the world in a bid to raise awareness of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as meningitis, and lobby for change regarding immunisation strategies. The key message of the initiative is that vaccination is not just for babies!
Our meeting at the European Parliament brought together key stakeholders from vaccine-related fields, who are interested in collaboration towards a better future. Here at CoMO, we encourage coordination between organisations and stakeholders to collaboratively create positive change.
In this time of European uncertainty, we believe that it is even more important to continue to build bridges with friends and colleagues across nations and strengthen ongoing relationships with stakeholders who strive for a better future regarding healthcare. CoMO’s guiding principles derive from our ‘Change Equation’ in which we utilise our connections with organisations and individuals who share our desire to create positive change. What makes our Change Equation so successful is the collaboration of efforts between parent-patient advocates, health experts and key opinion leaders from diverse backgrounds working together towards a common purpose.
CoMO’s Change Equation has been and will continue to be utilised as a tool for unity throughout our Life Course Immunisation Initiative. We believe that the best method of reducing inequalities between, and within, countries is to coordinate strategies and assimilate approaches towards immunisation schedules and awareness campaigns for diseases across borders. Since our Parliamentary meeting in Brussels, we have continued to engage with attendees and are planning exciting opportunities for collaboration in the future.CoMO currently unites 55 members across 28 countries and hopes that these relationships will grow stronger to collectively advocate for issues surrounding immunisation and improved disease awareness.
Katie is a recent graduate from the University of Leeds, where she studied International Development with Sociology. She has previous experience in events management and marketing for International NGOs. Katie supports the head office at CoMO where she is working as the events and communications intern.