On November 27, Moscow hosted the All-Russian forum “Public immunity” which was attended by healthcare leaders on both a national and regional scale, experts from the scientific community and different businesses.
The forum primarily focuses on the role of immunoprophylaxis in increasing life expectancy of the population, shaping a healthcare culture, advanced vaccine production technologies, opposition to anti-vaxxer movements and many other issues.
In her welcoming speech, Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova announced that the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation is elaborating a strategy for the development of immunoprophylaxis until 2035. The Ministry is going to prioritize stay focused on expanding the national vaccination schedule and extending the preventive vaccination coverage.
Such a strategy is urgently needed today as public health care includes not only protocol events, but also promotion of a healthy lifestyle, personal responsibility for their health (sports, giving up bad habits), corporate responsibility (launch of voluntary health insurance policies), involvement of media channels in dissemination of information about the need (and most importantly safety) of preventive vaccination.
Joint efforts of the state and businesses play a crucial role in the fight against vaccine preventable diseases. A proper, well thought-out request requires an accurate response, particularly if the question concerns the preservation of human life and health.
Vladimir Khristenko, President of NANOLEK, took part in the plenary session “Immunoprophylaxis as a way to protect public health” together with representatives of the Ministry of Health, the Russian Academy of Sciences and major players in the commercial market segment.
Vladimir shared a positive experience of signing state agreements on supplies of inactivated polio vaccines. This has allowed to schedule production processes in advance and in a sustainable way, therefore regular supplies of immunobiological drugs within NCPI (National Schedule of Prophylactic Immunization) will be launched as early as in the first quarter of 2020.
“Based on the positive experience, we believe that it is important to go further, to deepen trust of the state and businesses and switch to at least three-year government contracts on supply of vaccines. And there is no need to change the laws.Three-year contracts will make easier the state mechanisms of management, planning, logistics in terms of immunoprophylaxis, and, which is very important, will establish a fixed price for the supplied products during the term of the contract”.
In continuation of the discussion day of the “Public immunity” forum, Maxim Stetsyuk, CEO of NANOLEK, took part in the panel discussion “Factors Influencing Public Immunisation Coverage”.
Healthy lifestyle (HLS) or health care (HC)? Fish or meat? Blogger or conventional mass media?
Despite the serious issues raised during the discussion, the dialogue turned out to be very informal. The experts sitting in a circle of like-minded people discussed the following topics: immunisation from the point of view of ordinary people, misconceptions and myths in our society, how the medical community may affect the consciousness of an ordinary citizen, role of nutrition in shaping a health care (HC) culture.
There is no doubt that consistent work is needed to form a clear vision of a healthy lifestyle behaviour. Commonplace truth: giving up bad habits, healthy food, sports - all this will promote a healthy and long life. Joined efforts of physicians, competent media planning for the dissemination of reliable information as well as personal example may help achieve tangible sustainable results in promoting health of the whole nation.
“Can a manufacturer form a public opinion and build communication with a wide consumer audience about the vaccination necessity (given the fact that direct advertising of drugs is prohibited by law)?” Maxim Stetsyuk gave a detailed answer to this question from a perspective of the general discussion topic:
“We decided within the company that we need to start with ourselves: we actively use social networks to keep our audience informed about the vaccination expertise abroad, representative statistics, current situation in the Russian medical industry and cover the issues regarding anti-vaccine advocates’ community.
I believe that we need to strengthen trust in physicians using the information realm since a doctor is always the first to shape a right attitude to public vaccination.
In general, the Russian Ministry of Health has done a lot of work to expand the national vaccination schedule. And I convince all members of my family of the necessity to vaccinate by personal example.
By the way, about the myths. Domestic vaccines are believed to have poor quality. I as a manufacturer can reassure you: our company has a GMP certificate and is audited by foreign partners at least 1-2 times a month, and there is only one way to pass such inspection: your production chain should be completely free of any malfunctions. I invite everyone of you to visit the NANOLEK plant in the Kirov region to experience it first-hand”.