Peer-reviewed article
Strengthening life-course immunisation in migrant populations: access, equity, and inclusion
Felicity Knights, Jessica Carter, Anna Deal, Alison F Crawshaw, Oumnia Bouaddi et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper examines immunisation gaps in migrant populations across Europe and beyond, who are under-vaccinated due to missed childhood vaccines in countries of origin and marginalisation from health systems. The declining vaccine coverage across Europe, worsened after the pandemic, puts these groups at higher risk of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and diphtheria. Despite WHO guidelines on catch-up vaccination throughout life, migrants are rarely integrated into routine vaccination programmes on arrival. The paper identifies policy and practice gaps, factors driving low uptake, and proposes participatory approaches to improve vaccine equity.
Key points
- Migrant populations are under-immunised for routine vaccines due to missed childhood doses and exclusion from health systems
- Post-pandemic decline in population-level vaccine coverage in Europe increases risk for under-immunised groups
- Migrants have been involved in outbreaks of measles and diphtheria and miss opportunities for newer vaccines like HPV
- WHO Immunization Agenda 2030 emphasises equitable vaccine access and life-course catch-up vaccination
- Participatory approaches with affected communities can improve design and delivery of inclusive vaccination programmes
Limitations
This appears to be a descriptive or scoping review rather than an empirical study, so it cannot provide direct evidence of intervention effectiveness. The document identifies gaps and recommendations but does not evaluate specific interventions with outcome data.
Abstract
Adult and adolescent migrants worldwide, and those arriving in Europe, are an under-immunised group for routine vaccinations due to missed childhood vaccines and doses in their countries of origin, and their subsequent marginalisation from health and vaccination systems. Declining population-level coverage for routine vaccines across Europe, which has accelerated post-pandemic, places these and other under-immunised populations at even greater risk of vaccine-preventable diseases. However, despite clear guidelines around the importance of delivering 'catch-up' vaccination throughout the life-course, migrants are rarely effectively incorporated into routine vaccination programmes on arrival to Europe. These populations have subsequently been involved in outbreaks, including measles and diphtheria, and are missing opportunities to receive more recently introduced vaccines such as HPV to align them with European vaccine schedules. WHO's new Immunization Agenda 2030 places a renewed emphasis on equitable access to vaccine systems and integrating catch-up vaccination for missed vaccines and doses throughout the life-course. In addition, lessons learned and innovations from the COVID-19 pandemic merit further consideration in the design and delivery of more inclusive vaccination programmes. We describe current gaps in policy and practice around life-course vaccination in migrant populations, key factors that drive low vaccine uptake and coverage, and explore the benefits of participatory approaches to designing and delivering interventions with impacted communities, to define new strategies to advance vaccine equity across the Region.