Clinical Interventions in Aging (May 2023)

Addressing Unmet Needs in Vaccination for Older Adults in the Asia Pacific: Insights from the COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Woodward M,
  • Ramasubramanian V,
  • Kamarulzaman A,
  • Tantawichien T,
  • Wang M,
  • Song JY,
  • Choi WS,
  • Djauzi S,
  • Solante R,
  • Lee WS,
  • Tateda K,
  • Pan H,
  • Wang NC,
  • Pang T

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 18
pp. 869 – 880

Abstract

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Michael Woodward,1,* Venkatasubramanian Ramasubramanian,2 Adeeba Kamarulzaman,3 Terapong Tantawichien,4 Minggui Wang,5 Joon Young Song,6 Won Suk Choi,7 Samsuridjal Djauzi,8 Rontgene Solante,9 Wen-Sen Lee,10 Kazuhiko Tateda,11 HongXing Pan,12 Ning-Chi Wang,13 Tikki Pang14,* 1Aged Care Research, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; 2Department of Infectious Diseases, HIV & Tropical Medicine, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, TN, India; 3Department of Medicine, University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 4Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand; 5Institute of Antibiotics, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, SH, People’s Republic of China; 6Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; 7Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korean University College of Medicine, Ansan, Korea; 8Allergy and Clinical Immunology Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia; 9Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, San Lazaro Hospital, Manila, NCR, Philippines; 10Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, New Taipei City Hospital, New Taipei, Taiwan; 11Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo, Japan; 12Institution of Vaccine Clinical Trials, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, JS, People’s Republic of China; 13Department of Medicine, Tri-Service Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; 14Centre for Behavioural and Implementation Science Interventions, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Tikki Pang, Centre for Behavioural and Implementation Science Interventions, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 10 Medical Dr, 117597, Singapore, Tel +65 6516 1048, Email [email protected]: The impact of vaccinating the older population against vaccine-preventable diseases in terms of health, social and economic benefits has been increasingly recognised. However, there is a gap in the utilisation of vaccines worldwide. The population is ageing at an unprecedented pace in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, with the number of persons older than 65 years set to double by 2050 to around 1.3 billion. More than 18% of the population in Japan, Hong Kong, and China is over the age of 65 years. This highlights the importance of prioritising resources to address societal obligations toward the needs of the ageing generation. This review provides an overview of the challenges to adult vaccination in APAC, drivers to increase vaccination coverage, vaccination insights gained through the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential measures to increase the uptake of adult vaccines in the region.Keywords: adult vaccination, vaccine-preventable diseases, VPD, adult vaccines, COVID-19 vaccination

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