Vaccines are intended to save lives, but in rare cases, serious adverse events may occur. That’s why ongoing vaccine safety monitoring—or pharmacovigilance—is critical to ensure patient health and well-being.
The Role of Vaccine Pharmacovigilance
Among other things, vaccine pharmacovigilance aims to:
- Detect early on unknown safety problems related to vaccines or immunization
- Identify increases in the frequency of known adverse reactions
- Assess and communicate the risks and benefits of vaccines
- Promote the safer and more (cost-) effective use of vaccines
AEFI Monitoring in Africa
AMP is collaborating with international and regional partners to monitor the safety of vaccines for various infectious diseases. Our primary work is a multi-year project in numerous African countries to establish AEFI (adverse events following immunization) monitoring in support of the Yellow Fever Initiative—led by WHO and UNICEF with the full engagement of ministries of health and financial support from the GAVI Alliance.
We have also contributed to the development of vaccine adverse events surveillance for the introduction of the new meningococcal A conjugate vaccine in Burkina Faso.