XXIV Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Vaccine-preventable Diseases: Final Report, 2017

The XXIV Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Vaccine‐preventable Diseases of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) was held in Panama City, Panama on 12-14 July 2017. 

The slogan for the meeting was “40 years and counting,” selected in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), which was created in 1977. The objectives of this meeting included reviewing the progress on several initiatives focused on controlling and eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) and issuing recommendations on ways to address the many challenges faced by national immunization programs in the Americas. 

The topics discussed during the meeting, Plan of Action for Sustaining the Elimination of Measles and Rubella in the Americas 2018-20231 and Plan of Action on Immunization: Midterm Review2 will be presented at the Region’s upcoming Pan American Sanitary Conference in September 2017. Panama’s Ministry of Health opened the meeting and expressed their happiness to host the event, recognizing how the meeting will greatly benefit public health at the national, regional and global levels. 

The importance of Panama’s EPI was also mentioned, as it provides the country’s population with free and equitable access to 23 vaccines, including to people in difficult-to-reach geographic and indigenous areas. The successes of Panama’s EPI, which can be attributed to its strong, committed healthcare staff, and the high acceptability of vaccines by its people, can be seen as an example for other countries, but also as contributing to the success of the Region as a whole. PAHO’s Assistant Director, Dr. Francisco Becerra, and TAG chair, Dr. Peter Figueroa followed the speech from Panama by welcoming participants to the meeting.