Why Adult Immunization Matters
Immunization is a key part of disease prevention throughout adulthood. Sustained, age-appropriate vaccination reduces individual risk, protects vulnerable populations, and strengthens health systems' capacity to prevent and respond to infectious disease threats, reinforcing population-level resilience across every stage of adult life.
Where Coverage Breaks Down
Immunization programs remain concentrated in early childhood, while vaccination across adolescence, adulthood, and older age is delivered through more fragmented approaches. Missed opportunities are common across healthcare encounters, and immunization is not consistently integrated into routine care, limiting its role as a continuous prevention strategy and leaving gaps in protection.
From Evidence to Implementation
Closing these gaps requires a shift toward integrated, life course-oriented immunization. This work spans age-specific vaccine schedules and recommendations, emerging vaccine technologies and combination vaccines, strategies to strengthen vaccine confidence and uptake, and policies that embed immunization into routine healthcare, improving equitable access and sustained protection across populations.
