Pfizer India and Amrita Hospital, Faridabad, have collaborated to unveil a new dedicated Centre of Excellence (CoE) for adult vaccination in Amrita Hospital, Faridabad. The COE has been set up to promote holistic community-wide adult vaccination coverage against several vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), including Pneumococcal disease, Influenza, Human papillomavirus (HPV), and Hepatitis A and B, among others.
Roughly 95 per cent of VPD-related deaths in India occur in adults. While adult vaccination is a proven and effective science-backed strategy to enhance people’s quality of life, its adoption in the country remains low. Vaccination uptake is important to avoid VPD-related health complications, particularly among at-risk individuals with comorbidities such as Chronic Lung Disease (COPD & Asthma), Diabetes, Chronic Heart Disease, Chronic Kidney Disease, Cancer, and other immunocompromised conditions.
The CoE aims to play an instrumental role in addressing barriers to vaccination in the region, by empowering healthcare professionals with vital information on the proven long-lasting benefits of adult vaccination. It will offer capacity-building efforts and training modules, alongside access to adult vaccination guidelines and protocol recommendations. This can also help healthcare practitioners engage with groups with risk factors early on and discuss the benefits of vaccination as a preventive healthcare tool. People with risk factors include those who smoke or have exposure to pollution, and people aged 50 years or older.