First ever intl Confab on vaccines in Sri Lanka

Asian Vaccine Conference 2022 ( ASVAC 2022)

The 8th Asian Vaccine Conference (ASVAC 2022) will be held on 15 – 18 September 2022 virtually globally and in-person in Sri Lanka. The organizing committee in Sri Lanka includes Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Forum of Sri Lanka (VIDFSL), the Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists, Sri Lanka College of Pediatricians and the College of General practitioners, a press release said.

It said: First conference was held in Cambodia in 2009. Since then the Immunization Partners in Asia Pacific (IPAP) has been holding “Asian Vaccine Conferences” biennially. It has drawn interest from a broad range of stakeholders involved in vaccines and immunization.

Conference begins with an EPI managers meeting, a closed-door conference for mangers of Expanded Programmmes on Immunization in the region. It will be held on 15th of September. As the hosting country, Sri Lanka is organizing this meeting creating a platform for EPI managers to communicate with each other as well as giving an opportunity for local EPI managers to participate together via a hybrid meeting at MRI.

The Vaccine masterclass on 16th of September is open to doctors and nurses. Experts will impart up to date knowledge.Main Conference is on 17th & 18th of September. Over a dozen international experts on vaccines will speak at this conference, including Prof. Tony Nelson, Professor in Pediatrics, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Prof Emeritus Lulu Bravo, Professor Emeritus Pediatric Infectious and Tropical Diseases, College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila; Dr Zulkifli Ismail, Pediatric Cardiologist, KPJ Selangor Specialist Hospital, Malaysia; Prof Neelika Malavige, Professor, Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, University of Sri Jayawardenepura and Head of the Dengue Global Programme, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative.

The Ministry of Health supports the conference with a speech by the Minister and is also supported by the DGHS and deputies and active contribution from the Epidemiology Unit.The theme of ASVAC 2022 is “Immunization in the Era of Pandemics” which is a timely theme. According to a recent UNICEF report, there are 20 million children unvaccinated or undervaccinated in the world today. This is mostly due to the COVID19 pandemic coupled with an emerging loss of vaccine confidence and some confusion knowing where to get vaccinated. The Conference is with this objective of putting vaccination at the forefront of health delivery to reduce morbidity and mortality from vaccine-preventable diseases

The VIDFSL, is the main organizer of ASVAC 2022 in Sri Lanka and this is the first ever international conference on vaccines hosted by Sri Lanka. We invite all health care professionals, especially general practitioners, microbiologists, pediatricians to join this important meeting which will be held as a hybrid event at the Medical Research Institute, Colombo 8 from the 16th of September.