The Network for Education and Support in Immunization (NESI) of the University of Antwerp in Belgium, EMPHNET, and the University of Jordan conducted a training workshop to highlight the role of National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) in introducing new vaccines to immunization programs. The workshop took place in Amman, Jordan at the Landmark Hotel between May 3 – 4, 2017.

Middle-income countries in the region have been struggling to introduce new vaccines mainly because of the high price of these vaccines and the lack of clear mechanisms to help Ministries of Health (MoHs) gather data on the clinical, social, and economic burden of diseases covered by these vaccines. Hence, this workshop focused on the role of NITAGs in supporting the MoHs in these countries in gathering the required epidemiological and economic information to help them decide on the incorporation as well as the prioritization of these new vaccines.

The workshop saw a diverse participation from NITAG members in Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Syria, Tunisia, and the UAE. Professionals representing National Expanded Programs on Immunization (EPIs) from the above-mentioned countries also participated in the workshop, alongside experts from UNICEF, the Robert Koch Institute, and GAVI.

Participants discussed mechanisms to strengthen their national EPI performance, while particularly highlighting the impact of NITAGs, advocacy, communication and social mobilization. Their discussions also focused on how to prioritize and adopt new and underused vaccines by relying on a scientific-based approach.

The workshop provided the participants with an opportunity to discuss the burden of varicella globally and regionally and the available varicella vaccines and the recommended vaccination strategies, learning from the experiences of Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE in this regard.

In a group session co-chaired by EMPHNET, country participants shared their previous experience with new vaccine introduction as well as their future plans in this area, particularly highlighting the role played by the NITAGs. They also discussed how NITAGs and the national EPI experts can best help MoHs make evidence-based scientific decisions to prioritize which new vaccines should be introduced first, and when and how they should be introduced. In this regard, the participants agreed that gathering detailed scientific information on the clinical, economic, and social burden of the disease by implementing adequate surveillance as well as cost-effective studies are amongst the most important steps.

This was the workshop’s key activity as participants proposed recommendations regarding the introduction of new vaccines into their respective countries.

NITAGs are established by their countries as advisory bodies to guide national policy-makers and program managers in making evidence-based immunization-related policy and program decisions. The majority of industrialized countries have functional NITAGs. In most countries of the region, these bodies are either non-existent or not well-functioning.