Policy

Despite the growing aging population in Asia Pacific, the uptake of adult immunization within the region remains low. Adult immunization is a critical part of life-course immunization, which supports health promotion, as well as disease prevention and management throughout people’s life span. It has many advantages, such as promoting healthy aging, reducing economic burden of illness-induced wage and productivity loss, strengthening herd immunity and providing the infrastructure to achieve universal health coverage. While some countries in Asia Pacific have improved adult immunization guidelines, many are still dealing with issues, such as the lack of vaccine awareness among older adults, healthcare professionals and vulnerable populations, sustainable vaccine financing, convenient access to vaccination services and relevant data. There is an opportunity to strengthen public receptivity and demand for adult immunization in the region by increasing targeted communication for older adults and healthcare professionals, supporting multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral coordination, encouraging political commitment and building robust data to inform policies and programs.

Promoting Older Adults immunization: A pathway to health aging in the Asia Pacific