This panel discussion will explore the issue of maintaining routine immunizations during emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic. This panel will raise awareness about the importance of vaccines to protect people of all ages, and takes place during the World Health Organization’s World Immunization Week, Pan-American Health Organization’s Vaccination Week in the Americas, and Canada’s National Immunization Awareness Week.

What are the consequences of focusing significant resources on responses to health emergencies, to the exclusion of ongoing disease prevention? How does this vary by local context? What happens to immunization programs in countries with protracted humanitarian emergencies, especially within the context of global health emergencies? Context varies dramatically, but we still have much to learn from each other. The panel will span from global challenges and solutions to local recommendations in its discussion of the issues.

In the context of global health crises, already struggling public health and health-care systems will be pushed beyond their limit to meet surges in demand. Even Canada, one of the richest countries in the world, was struggling to meet its immunization targets before this crisis, and COVID-19 has presented further challenges in ensuring immunizations reach all children. Yet, immunization programs are integral in avoiding preventable deaths from diseases such as polio, whooping cough, cholera and measles, pneumonia, and diarrheal disease.

This panel discussion, co-hosted by the Dalla Lana School of Public Health's Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Centre for Global Health, and UNICEF Canada, is an opportunity to hear from leading human rights advocates, public health professionals and researchers, and to contribute to dialogue on this important area.

Panel:
Moderator:
Erica Di Ruggiero, Associate Professor DLSPH; Director of the Centre for Global Health, DLSPH

Speakers:
**David Morley, C.M., President and CEO of UNICEF Canada
**Natasha Crowcroft, Professor, DLSPH; Director, Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases
**Steven Moss, Physician, Paediatric Emergency Medicine, Sick Kids; Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto

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