Increasing Immunization in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
For the public health sector, the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines presents new challenges—a rapid timeline, targeting of adults, and, given limited initial supply, prioritization of high-risk populations. Research on these challenges in the context of childhood immunization has shed light on the barriers and enablers to vaccination, as well as effective demand-generation strategies to improve acceptance and uptake. While new information will emerge over time, evidence from decades of global efforts to immunize children offers important lessons to inform COVID-19 vaccination rollouts. In this brief, Innovations for Poverty Action’s Path-to-Scale Research team has compiled evidence from demand-side interventions to increase vaccination in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to help inform COVID-19 vaccination programming.