Vaccine Presentation and Packaging Advisory Group: a forum for reaching consensus on vaccine product attributes

In resource-constrained settings, getting vaccines safely and reliably to children in remote areas is a daily challenge. Exposure of vaccines to excessive heat or freezing temperatures, which often occurs in such settings, can compromise their potency. The Vaccine Presentation and Packaging Advisory Group (VPPAG) is an important forum where stakeholders from the vaccine industry and immunization programmes interact to discuss in depth vaccine product characteristics and their impact on immunization programmes. Already, the VPPAG has brought about meaningful changes in the way vaccines are packaged and presented for developing country programmes. Having a forum that allows constructive dialogue between the public and private sector furthers our shared goal of preventing disease, disability and death from vaccine-preventable diseases by designing products that can more easily reach those who will most benefit from immunization.