Insights from East and Southern Africa immunization managers on vaccine and immunization research agenda for Africa

Vaccination is one of the most impactful public health interventions globally. To ensure equitable access to vaccines for all children, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in 1974 as a guiding framework for member states. The EPI has saved over 50 million lives in the WHO African Region over its 50-year history. Despite current progress, most countries in the WHO African Region are still not on track to achieve the targets of the Immunization Agenda 2030. Research has been identified as an important tool for enhancing immunization performance and it’s included as part of the strategic priorities of the IA2030. During a recently concluded immunization programme managers’ meeting of East and Southern African countries, held from 25 to 27 June 2024, a discussion was held on vaccine and immunization-related research. We provide insights into suggested research priorities by immunization managers for the WHO African Region. Dedicated national and regional research agendas for vaccine and immunization research may need to be strengthened. Additionally, most countries will need capacity building for developing national research priority agendas within their national immunization programmes, ensuring that the needs, concerns, and contextual issues of the population are considered. While most of the suggested research priorities focused primarily on potential implementation research, other topics included the impact of vaccination and vaccine safety. Overall, there is need for broader stakeholder consultations to ensure that research prioritization is comprehensive to inform all the programme pillars in immunization.