Creation of a Global Vaccine Risk Index

Authors

Tasmiah Nuzhath
Peter J Hotez
Ashish Damania
P Shuling Liu
Brian Colwell

Publication Date

1-1-2022

Journal

PLoS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0272784

PMID

36001622

PMCID

PMC9401103

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

8-24-2022

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes

Keywords

COVID-19, COVID-19 Vaccines, Child, Global Health, Humans, Measles, Measles Vaccine, Vaccination, Vaccination Coverage, Vaccines

Abstract

The World Health Organization has identified vaccine hesitancy as one of its top ten global health threats for 2019. Efforts are underway to define the factors responsible for reductions in vaccine confidence. However, as global measles cases accelerated beginning in 2018, it became evident that additional factors were promoting measles re-emergence, including war, political and socio-economic collapse, shifting poverty, and vulnerability to weather events and climate change. Accordingly, we propose a Global Vaccine Risk Index (VRI) to consider these variables as a more comprehensive means to identify vulnerable nations where we might expect measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases to emerge or re-emerge. In Sub-Saharan African and Middle Eastern nations, conflict and political instability predominated as the basis for high vaccine risk scores, whereas in Southeast Asian countries, the major reasons included climate variability, current levels of measles vaccination coverage, and economic and educational disparities. In Europe, low vaccine confidence and refugee movements predominated, while in the Americas, economic disparities and vaccine confidence were important. The VRI may serve as a useful indicator and predictor for international agencies committed to childhood immunizations and might find relevance for accelerating future COVID19 vaccination programs.