Peer-reviewed article
Health Worker Influenza Vaccination Programs: A Key to Pandemic Preparedness and Effective COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
Margaret McCarron, Chelsey Griffin, Tat S Yau, Julie Garon Carlton, Jaymin C Patel et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined whether countries with established health worker influenza vaccination programs were better prepared to deploy COVID-19 vaccines rapidly during the pandemic. Researchers analyzed vaccination data from 60 low- and middle-income countries and found that countries with mature influenza vaccination programs for health workers achieved significantly higher COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the general population within the first year. The findings suggest that existing vaccination infrastructure and experience among health workers contributed to more effective pandemic response.
Key points
- 40% of study countries (24 of 60) had mature health worker influenza vaccination programs before COVID-19
- General population COVID-19 vaccination coverage at 12 months was 46% in countries with mature influenza programs versus 25% in countries without
- Vaccination coverage was 2.5 times higher in countries with mature health worker influenza programs (adjusted odds ratio 2.5, 95% CI: 1.5-4.5; p=0.001)
- Study used WHO COVID-19 PowerBI Dashboard data, WHO-UNICEF electronic Joint Reporting Form data, and qualitative interview data from post-introduction evaluations
Limitations
The study cannot establish causality or determine which specific components of mature influenza programs were most important for COVID-19 deployment success. The analysis does not account for other country-level factors that may influence vaccination coverage rates, such as healthcare infrastructure, political will, or vaccine supply chain capacity.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic presented an urgent global need to quickly vaccinate health workers (HWs). We used this unique circumstance to assess whether mature influenza vaccination programs for HWs facilitated rapid deployment of COVID-19 vaccines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). METHODS: We used publicly available population-level COVID-19 vaccination coverage data from the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 PowerBI Dashboard for 60 LMICs to investigate general population coverage with the COVID-19 vaccine over the first year of vaccine rollout. We also evaluated country-level policy and program data reported to the WHO-United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) electronic Joint Reporting Form (eJRF) in 2022 or earlier to determine if the presence of a mature (≥2 years of influenza vaccine introduction in HWs prior to 2019) HW influenza vaccination program was associated with more rapid COVID-19 vaccine deployment and/or pandemic preparedness. We used a mixed-effects beta regression model to investigate whether having a mature HW influenza vaccination program was associated with COVID-19 vaccination coverage levels and/or deployment timeliness. Finally, to provide a better understanding of the possible relationship between the presence of a mature HW influenza vaccination program and the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, we analyzed interview data collected during COVID-19 vaccine post-introduction evaluations (cPIEs). RESULTS: Twenty-four of our study countries (40%) had mature HW influenza vaccination programs prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 16 (27%) participated in cPIEs. The overall adjusted mean general-population COVID-19 vaccination coverage at 12 months post-deployment in countries with mature HW influenza vaccination programs was 46% (95% CI: (35%, 56%)), compared with 25% (95% CI: (19%, 32%)) in countries without such programs. Vaccination coverage was 2.5 times higher in countries with mature programs (adjusted odds ratio 2.5, 95% CI: (1.5, 4.5); p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis suggests that mature influenza vaccination programs for HWs were associated with timelier and more complete COVID-19 vaccination rollout.