Eastern European Hub

The Eastern European hub, based in Ukraine, focuses on understanding vaccination uptake and hesitancy across Eastern Europe.

Scope

The main objective of this hub is to develop collaborative research and intervention to overcome vaccination hesitancy in Eastern European countries. To increase this coverage, our work will develop and evaluate strategies improving vaccine uptake and coverage among vulnerable populations, including those who are unvaccinated, who refuse vaccination, or who have false information about vaccine efficacy and safety.

Example. Moldova has eliminated measles, an accomplishment confirmed by the World Health Organization. This elimination occurred because of very high vaccination coverage and a strong surveillance system. Moldova, a member of our regional hub, can share its approach with other Eastern European countries to enhance coverage more broadly.

Terms of Reference for the Eastern Europe hub

1. To identify major gaps in vaccination uptake in countries
2. To map who the primary vaccine refusers (vulnerable populations) are in countries and to define the main reasons for vaccine hesitancy
3. To analyze research conducted in Eastern European countries (where they exist)
4. To map “success stories” – how countries achieved high levels of vaccination coverage
5. To conduct a face-to-face meeting in Kyiv (2020) to discuss the above-mentioned issues
6. To analyze existing strategies for increasing vaccination coverage
7. To develop recommendations for countries to overcome vaccine hesitancy issues
8. To test, implement and evaluate the recommendations
9. To identify different sources of funding, which would support research and the development of pilots/trials that demonstrate what really works in varied contexts.

Duration

The regional hub, created in 2020, is seeking different types of funding mechanisms to conduct collaborative research and interventions to increase vaccination uptake across Eastern Europe.

Eastern European Hub first virtual meeting on 15/09/20