Assessing New Vaccines for National Immunization Programmes: A Framework to Assist Decision-Makers

Many new vaccines are available now and even more will be in future years. They include vaccines for diseases not previously immunized against, improvements to existing vaccines and combination vaccines. The new vaccines could save up to eight million lives a year. The decision to add a new vaccine to an immunization programme is often influenced by social values, perceptions and political concerns and is not just a technical one. This document aims to help policy makers make decisions on new vaccines by clarifying the technical and operational issues through a series of technical questions.