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

Woodward M 1 , Ramasubramanian V 2 , Kamarulzaman A 3 , Tantawichien T 4 , Wang M 5 , Song JY 6 Show all authors , Choi WS 7 , Djauzi S 8 , Solante R 9 , Lee WS 10 , Tateda K 11 , Pan H 12 , Wang NC 13 , Pang T 14

Affiliations 

  • 1 Aged Care Research, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  • 2 Department of Infectious Diseases, HIV & Tropical Medicine, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, TN, India
  • 3 Department of Medicine, University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 4 Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
  • 5 Institute of Antibiotics, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, SH, People's Republic of China
  • 6 Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
  • 7 Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korean University College of Medicine, Ansan, Korea
  • 8 Allergy and Clinical Immunology Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • 9 Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, San Lazaro Hospital, Manila, NCR, Philippines
  • 10 Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, New Taipei City Hospital, New Taipei, Taiwan
  • 11 Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo, Japan
  • 12 Institution of Vaccine Clinical Trials, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, JS, People's Republic of China
  • 13 Department of Medicine, Tri-Service Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
  • 14 Centre for Behavioural and Implementation Science Interventions, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Clin Interv Aging, 2023;18:869-880.
PMID: 37284594 DOI: 10.2147/CIA.S406601

Abstract

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.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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