Vaccination Week 2023   |28 April 2023

Minister Vidot addressing the gathering

Revised immunisation programme launched

Immunisation remains a lifesaving health intervention, especially in the context of the life course and as the world has more evidence, there is a need to continuously update and adapt the immunisation programme in line with international recommendations. 

In commemoration of Vaccination Week, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) country launched the Revised Life Course Immunisation Schedule and the HPV vaccination educational campaign.

This was during a ceremony held at the Savoy Seychelles Resort & Spa at Beau Vallon.

The African Vaccination Week (AVW) is an annual event celebrated during the last week of April alongside the World Immunisation Week. It aims to highlight the collective action needed to be taken by countries to promote the use of vaccines as a primary prevention against disease.

This year’s theme for Vaccination Week is the ‘The Big Catch Up’ which focuses on reaching children who missed vaccination during 2020-2022, partly due to the pandemic, restoring immunisation programmes and vaccination coverage to the pre-pandemic level, and strengthening immunisation programmes and systems within primary health care, to improve programme resilience and resume the course towards achieving global immunisation goals and targets.

In line with the theme, an educational campaign on vaccination for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) was also launched. The campaign aims to reinforce existing messages in regards to HPV vaccination for girls and also raise awareness on the introduction of the vaccine for boys in 2024, in line with the revised schedule.

Minister for Health, Peggy Vidot, shared that “Today’s ceremony is an important step and a milestone in the history of immunisation in Seychelles. We are launching two important initiatives to further reinforce our prevention efforts. I have the pleasure to launch the Revised Routine Immunisation Schedule for Seychelles. The revised schedule takes into account the progress in vaccine development and our evolving health situation. It is informed by evidence-based recommendations of WHO, the global health community and supported by our own team of experts in the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group. In implementing the Schedule, we will be ensuring that our population have access to the optimal protection against vaccine preventable infections.”

Minister Vidot also noted that vaccination is not only for children. “The revised schedule also makes provision for protecting the health of the older members of our community through the pneumococcal vaccine. Pneumococcus accounts for a large proportion of deaths due to pneumonia among older persons. Vaccination, alongside other public health measures such as sanitation, good nutrition, and quality health care services, is an important investment in the health of our nation. I recognise that availability of vaccine products is not sufficient, and that greater efforts need to be made towards informing and educating children, parents, adolescents, adults and the elderly about the importance and benefits of health protection through vaccination. Vaccines save lives and prevent serious illnesses and severe complications. We need to build on the decades of success in vaccination and work together to promote better health and health protection.”

The WHO representative, Dr Rex Mpazanje, commended Seychelles for sustaining the various vaccination campaigns and once again conveyed the support of WHO to Seychelles.

Veronique Simeon, senior nursing officer working with the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, gave a thorough explanation on the revised immunisation schedule. “Infectious diseases remain a major disease burden in Seychelles, both in children and in adults. Thus there is continued need to maintain, update and adapt the EPI to evolving evidence-based recommendations of the WHO and global health community,” noted Mrs Simeon. (See accompanying table for new schedule of vaccination.)

The Life course approach to immunisation attempts to start the process of expanding relevant vaccines into adulthood for overall health and societal benefit. These changes are in-line with the EPI Comprehensive Multi-Year Plan, 2019-2023.

Stephanie Charlette, the School, Adolescent and Youth Health programme manager, spoke about the HPV vaccination which was launched in 2014. “Health education in schools were not consistent for the past three years thus causing a rise to vaccine hesitancy. Now the HPV vaccine introduction to boys is scheduled for 2024 and HPV catch up to girls up to 26 years will be in 2024. The objectives ot the campaign will be to raise awareness on the importance of HPV vaccine, to increase HPV vaccination uptake in primary six girls and to sensitise parents on the introduction of HPV vaccine in boys.”

The Ministry of Health will also work on the reduction of stigma surrounding HPV and to increase teachers’ awareness and knowledge of HPV and HPV vaccine.

Florida Bijoux made a presentation about the history of vaccination in Seychelles (see separate article).

Seychelles started its vaccination programme in 1808 and in 1978, it adopted the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) supported by WHO and Unicef. At that time, six diseases were targeted which included tuberculosis (through the BCG, vaccine), poliomyelitis (with Oral Polio Vaccine), diphtheria, pertussis and neonatal tetanus (with the DPT vaccine), and measles (with the measles vaccine, and later measles, mumps, rubella vaccine, or MMR).

Over the years, new vaccines have been introduced and as at 2022, thirteen antigens are used as part of the routine childhood immunisation schedule in Seychelles. This has led to a drastic reduction in most vaccine-preventable childhood illnesses nationally and consequently to a low child mortality.

There is however, continued need to maintain, update and adapt the EPI to evolving evidence-based recommendations of the WHO and global health community and as new vaccines become available.

The revision of the immunisation schedule will be implemented by phase over a period of three years.

The ceremony ended with a certificate presentation to all those from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education who supported the campaign of vaccination against Covid-19 for children aged 5-11 years.

Text & photos by Vidya Gappy