Vaccine vigilance in Canada: Is it as robust as it could be?

Area of Science:

• Public Health and Epidemiology
• Immunization and Vaccine Safety Surveillance

Background:

• Canada's vaccine safety surveillance capacity, while strong, had identified areas for improvement in the early 2000s.
• The need to assess progress and identify remaining gaps in vaccine safety monitoring over the past decade.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the advancements in Canada's vaccine safety surveillance systems over the last decade.
• To identify ongoing challenges and areas for future improvement in monitoring vaccine safety and effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• Review of progress made by the Vaccine Vigilance Working Group in enhancing passive surveillance.
• Assessment of increased investigative capacity for adverse events following immunization (AEFIs) and clusters.
• Evaluation of the adoption of international standards, such as Brighton Collaboration definitions, for improved collaboration.

Main Results:

• Significant progress achieved in enhancing passive vaccine safety monitoring and investigative capacity for AEFIs.
• Successful implementation of international standards facilitating global collaboration in vaccine safety.
• Identified areas for improvement include provincial surveillance sensitivity, data exchange timeliness, and development of an AEFI Signal Response Protocol.

Conclusions:

• Canada has made commendable progress in vaccine safety surveillance, particularly through the Vaccine Vigilance Working Group and the Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN).
• Continued investment in evaluation research, provincial networks, and record linkages supports a robust immunization program.
• Further strengthening of program implementation monitoring, vaccine coverage tracking, and disease burden documentation is recommended for comprehensive vaccine safety.