[Registration Open] (Webinar) The 106th HGPI Seminar - The Construction of COVID-19 Vaccination Management Systems and Information Sharing in the Future

Around the world, immunization and vaccination programs save the lives of 3.5 million to 5 million people each year, and the global struggle with the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reaffirmed the importance of immunization and vaccination to public health in Japan and around the world.

In recognition of this need, Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) started and repeated discussions with specialists from Japan and abroad from FY 2021. We then synthesized the results of discussions into policy recommendations entitled, “A Life Course Approach to Immunization and Vaccination Policy –Five Perspectives and Recommended Actions.” To follow up on those efforts, we established working groups for each of the five perspectives and deepened discussions on feasible policy options for each one*.

Establishing vaccination information systems, an item related to the five perspectives, will provide a foundation for policy making that is based on scientific assessment and evidence. Such systems would contribute to vaccine safety and effectiveness, post-marketing research, and the establishment of rapid and efficient vaccination programs in the event of emergencies. While Japan has yet to construct a sufficient data infrastructure that can be used effectively at the nationwide level, it is already possible for reports of suspected adverse reactions to be submitted electronically and progress is being made on the digitalization of vaccination ledgers.

At the same time, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the world have been accelerating efforts to build data systems that will create foundations for policies, especially those for public health. Japan has been no exception, and has taken a number of strong policy measures to promote digital transformation (DX) in various fields including public health and medicine. These include the establishment of the Digital Agency, the formulation of the Priority Policy Program for the Realization of a Digital Society in 2021, and the establishment of a Headquarters for the Promotion of Healthcare DX (tentative title) through the Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2022. As progress continues to be made on such reforms aiming to build a digital society, there are high expectations for the results of efforts to reexamine how mechanisms using information on immunizations and vaccinations and other medical information effectively and in a centralized manner can be utilized to build a better system for assessing vaccine safety and effectiveness and make other improvements to the immunization and vaccination system in the future.

Furthermore, because the administration of vaccine programs in Japan is the responsibility of local governments, local governments are also responsible for managing vaccination information. The fact that there were regional disparities in information management and utilization systems for COVID-19 vaccines is still fresh in our minds, as is the fact that the activities of certain local governments were outstanding. However, the national Government plays a major role in nationwide centralization, and the timely launch of the Vaccination Record System (VRS) for COVID-19 vaccines established a system that integrates information from every local government. Good examples and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic should be applied to routine and voluntary vaccinations during non-emergencies. While vaccine programs are the responsibility of local governments, investigating suspected cases of adverse reactions is the responsibility of the national Government, so seamless coordination from both sides is also necessary.

Given this backdrop, the upcoming HGPI Seminar will feature Mr. Mizuho Oyama, Deputy Director of the Planning and Finance Department and Director of the Digital Strategy Office (CDO) of Toda City and Regional Informatization Advisor to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Toda City was one of the first cities that established an advanced vaccination information system during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Toda City developed a new system for linking COVID-19 vaccination records called T-SYS, which has become an effective tool for visualizing vaccination progress and promoting vaccinations. In addition to Toda City’s innovative efforts, this HGPI seminar will also cover various topics from the perspective of local governments, including how to apply best practices developed in response to the pandemic during non-emergencies, how to link multiple information systems including those for vaccination, medical, and health information, the roles of the national and local governments in building a data infrastructure, and how those parties should collaborate.

Please note that this seminar is available in Japanese only. An English report of this event will be published in due course.

*The Five Perspectives
Perspective 1 – Immunization and vaccination policies based on a life course approach should be advanced.
Perspective 2 – Dissemination, awareness-building, and communication strategies that target healthcare professionals and the public should be created.
Perspective 3 – To achieve science-based policy decision making and evaluation, steps should be taken to promote the creation of a system that analyzes and shares the epidemiological effects of vaccinations by linking vaccination practices with information systems that track outbreaks of targeted diseases.
Perspective 4 – Steps should be taken to create a system that enables multi-stakeholders to hold continuous discussions on vaccine policy.
Perspective 5 – Investments should be accelerated in immunization policies that address both non-emergency and emergency situations and anticipate future vaccine demand.
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