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– universal vaccination coverage among issues to be discussed With the introduction of a second Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine to 18-month-old tots,Charles Aranguiz Chile Jersey, the Ministry of Public Health is expected to continue its boast about its sustained wide vaccination coverage.The offering of the second MMR vaccine was in keeping with a recommendation that came outof the 30th Caribbean Expanded Programme on Immunization Managers’ Meeting in St. Maarten last year.Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, in boasting of the Ministry’s achievement earlier this year, said that “we certainly have so much to be proud of.”  It was reported that through the Maternal and Child Health Unit,Felipe Gutierrez Chile Jersey, the Ministry of Public Health has been able to offer the nation 16 antigens, that is, the types of available vaccines.And according to Minister Norton, “For the past number of years Guyana has not reported any vaccine-preventable disease,Carlos Pena Mexico Jersey, except for a few cases of tetanus in adults. And even so, it was more than five years ago that happened.”According to him, in the expanded programme on immunization, the Ministry has been able to record high vaccination rates which translate to over 90 per cent national coverage.He disclosed too, that Guyana’s immunisation status had resulted in it being tagged as number three among 75 countries in the evaluation of effective vaccine management.The Minister gave credit to the Maternal and Child Health Unit, which was formerly headed by Dr. Janice Woolford,Meliton Hernandez Mexico Jersey, for the implementation of the Safe Motherhood initiative, which, according to him, “is one of our cornerstone programmes to ensure the best standard of health care for both mothers and babies.”The state of immunization is set to be deliberated on when the 31st EPI Managers Meeting is convened at the Georgetown Marriott Hotel. But during the four-day forum which begins today an analysis of the 2015 achievements and planned activities for 2016 will be discussed.The meeting is being held in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), Guyana Family Gender and Life Course Department, and the Comprehensive Family Immunization Unit.Participants from 29 countries, including the United States and representatives from the PAHO/WHO regional office in Washington D.C., and officials from the Ministry of Public Health will be in attendance.Today’s opening of the forum will see remarks being delivered by PAHO/WHO Guyana Representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow, and Minister of Public Health, Dr George Norton.It is expected, too, that the event will see countries sharing their experiences on the immunization programme.A number of other issues are slated to be discussed including: universal vaccination coverage; progress of measles, rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) elimination; sustaining polio eradication, maternal immunization; data quality, cold chain and programme management; new vaccines and programme activities and experiences.Last year November, 58 participants from 29 countries of the English, Dutch and French-speaking Caribbean, and partners from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) met in Phillipsburg, St. Maarten,Yasser Corona Mexico Jersey, for the 30th Caribbean Immunization Managers’ Meeting.The purpose of the meeting was to analyze achievements for 2014 and to plan activities for 2015 while sharing experiences on the immunization programme. The forum then had specific focus on the implementation of the Plan of Action for maintaining measles, rubella, and CRS elimination in the Region as well as the introduction of the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in the routine immunization schedule of each country by the end of 2015 in keeping with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan.The format of that meeting involved technical updates on vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) and immunization-related programmatic areas by PAHO Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) advisors and other technical experts, as well as the sharing of country experiences in surveillance,Jorge Torres Mexico Jersey, research, vaccine introduction, investigations of events allegedly attributable to vaccination or immunization (ESAVI),Eugenio Mena Chile Jersey, cold chain management, among other topics.EPI managers also met in groups to facilitate discussions on achievements with their plans ofaction for 2014. They also finalized plans for 2015 with input from their peers.According to information from PAHO/WHO, the countries have continued to improve their EPI coverage with an average of 94 per cent coverage in 2013 for all the antigens reported (BCG, DTP,Vicente Matias Vuoso Mexico Jersey, Polio, Hib, HepB and MMR1). However MMR 2 coverage was 84 per cent.Surveillance for measles, rubella continue to be strengthened with achievement of >80 per cent for all fever and rash indicators except timely submission of samples to the reference laboratory.However,Sebastian Eriksson Sweden Jersey, the need for improved surveillance for polio acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance was observed.In fact some key recommendations from the meeting were for: Countries to continue working towards achieving 95 per cent coverage or more for each administered vaccine at all levels; countries to sustain polio eradication and measles/rubella/CRS elimination by ensuring >95 per cent vaccination coverage and high-quality surveillance; countries to increase efforts to introduce newer and underutilized vaccines and for countries to administer the 2nd MMR dose during the second year of life.