BASSETERRE, St Kitts and Nevis — Jamaica won the Henry C Smith award for most improved immunisation coverage in 2023 at the 38th Caribbean Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) managers’ meeting held in St Kitts and Nevis from October 28-30.

The inaugural Beryl Irons award went to Grenada for achieving its surveillance targets in 2024 and improving immunisation coverage in 2023.

Three countries also took away surveillance awards.  In first place was Barbados, second place went to St Kitts and Nevis and third place, Belize.  The winning EPI managers expressed their great sense of achievement on receiving these country awards.

EPI Manager, Dr Julia Rowe-Porter jubilantly expressed that Jamaica was honoured to receive the Henry C Smith Award for 2023.

“This award is evidence that our immunisation team at all levels — facility, parish, regional and national — are committed, resilient and focused on achieving our target for 95 per cent vaccination coverage, with a phenomenal post-pandemic recovery. There is still much work to be done to combat the growing threat of vaccine hesitancy. We are grateful for the ongoing technical cooperation and support received from all our partners, especially the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), as Jamaica seeks to maintain the gains of this high priority programme,” Rowe-Porter said.

These sentiments of teamwork were echoed by Hannah St Paul, EPI Manager in Grenada who asserted, “This achievement was only possible through the hard work and commitment of the EPI team in Grenada, with the support of the minister and policy team in the Ministry of Health.”

The meeting ran from October 28-30 under the theme, “Stronger Together: Advancing Immunisation, Eliminating Disease”, and culminated with a communications workshop.

Pan American Health Organization Advisor, Immunisation, Dr Karen Broome, noted that while the post-pandemic road has been difficult, significant strides have been made.

“The investments we’ve made in risk communication and community engagement are starting to pay off. We’re connecting better with the public, especially the most vulnerable, and building the trust we need to carry this work forward. Because, as we all know, without the trust of the community, we cannot do our work effectively.  Rebuilding that trust is a process, and it’s one we must approach with patience and effective communication,” Dr Broome said.

During the opening ceremony, PAHO’s Assistant Director Dr Rhonda Sealy commended the Caribbean immunisation managers for beginning to turn vaccination coverage around.

“Notably, Polio 3 coverage improved from 90 per cent in 2021 to 93 per cent in 2022, with even more progress in 2023, where we nearly reached the global target of 95 per cent, achieving 94 per cent. The gains in Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccinations are also encouraging…These achievements reflect the hard work of our National Expanded Program on Immunization and the unwavering support of our health ministers,” Dr Sealy expressed in a video message.