The National Burden of Influenza-Associated Respiratory Illness Across Levels of Severity in Egypt, 2016-2019.

Introduction: Influenza burden (IB) estimates are crucial for monitoring disease trends, allocating limited resources, and promoting influenza vaccination. However, IB in Egypt is poorly understood. This study estimates the mean-seasonal IB in Egypt, across levels of severity by age and regions using sentinel surveillance data between 2016 and 2019.

Seasonal influenza vaccination: A global review of national policies in 194 WHO member states in 2022.

Introduction: Seasonal influenza vaccination prevents severe influenza disease and death. The World Health Organization (WHO) encourages all countries to consider annual seasonal influenza vaccination for health workers, people with chronic conditions, older adults, pregnant women and other high-risk populations as relevant for their national context. This paper provides a global update on the status of countries' influenza vaccination policies and programmes as of December 2022.

A review of policies and coverage of seasonal influenza vaccination programs in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Background: Although there has been an effective seasonal influenza vaccine available for more than 60 years, influenza continues to circulate and cause illness. The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) is very diverse in health systems capacities, capabilities, and efficiencies, which affect the performance of services, especially vaccination, including seasonal influenza vaccination.

Aims: The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview on country-specific influenza vaccination policies, vaccine delivery, and coverage in EMR.

Inequities in the deployment of COVID-19 vaccine in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, 2020-2021.

The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) is characterised by a large range in routine immunisation coverage. We reviewed progress in access, deployment efforts, and use of COVID-19 vaccines in the EMR to identify bottlenecks and propose recommendations. We compiled and analysed data reported to WHO regarding the number of vaccines provided emergency use authorisation (EUA) in each country, the number of vaccine doses allocated and delivered by COVAX, the number of vaccine doses received bilaterally, the date of initiation of vaccination, vaccine usage rate and overall vaccination coverage.