The Case for Routine Immunizations within Health Emergency Response

During the Covid-19 pandemic, countries around the world have seen coverage levels for routine immunizations drop as resources and health workers have been diverted to pandemic response, including the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines. In this episode, Julia Spencer, Associate Vice President for Global Vaccines, Public Policy Partnerships, and Government Affairs at Merck & Company, and Margaret Cornelius, Deputy Director of Private Sector Programs at ThinkWell, join Katherine Bliss to discuss why it’s important to adequately fund routine immunization programs within pandemic preparedness initiatives, both to maintain continuity of services during health crises and to ensure a capacity to delivery pandemic vaccines as they become available. On the eve of the G20 meetings on health and finance in Rome, they share arguments for making the case to finance ministers that sustainably funding routine immunization programs is worth the investment in the long term.