Childhood Vaccination Subgroup Kick Off Event

The kick-off call for the new Childhood Vaccination subgroup of the Child Health Taskforce took place on on October 10, 2023 from 11:00am to 12:00pm EST. The subgroup will offer a forum to support the Child Survival Action agenda by accelerating efforts to increase coverage of the most life-saving vaccines - pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), rotavirus, measles, DTP vaccines, and in some settings malaria vaccines - in the countries that are off-track to achieve the child survival Sustainable Development Goal. Learn more about the Child Survival Action Initiative. To achieve this goal, the subgroup will engage the major global health organizations and initiatives focused on childhood vaccination as well as national governments and their partners in the off-track, low vaccine coverage countries. Critically, the subgroup will also deepen linkages between childhood vaccine groups and groups focused on other prevention, diagnosis, and treatment interventions relating to the leading child killers and risk factors. The goal is that greater alignment across these groups and initiatives at the global level will signal and strengthen similar collaboration at the country level. Further, reduced fragmentation across child survival initiatives and greater alignment across programs - including those addressed by other Child Health Taskforce subgroups - will accelerate efforts to reach the most vulnerable children, including zero-dose and under-immunized children are also at risk of missing out on other life-saving health services. 

The agenda for this event was as follows:

• Introductions
• Welcome from Child Health Taskforce
• Overview of Child Survival Action 
• Genesis of the Childhood Vaccination Subgroup
• Presentation of draft Terms of Reference
• Discussion
• Call for Nominations of Co-chairs
• Other business