Promoting higher-valent pediatric combination vaccines in China: challenges and recommendations for action

Many countries have adopted higher-valent pediatric combination vaccines to simplify vaccination schedules and minimize health expenditures and social costs.However,China is conservative in the use of pediatric combina-tion vaccines.By reviewing and synthesizing quantitative and qualitative data,in this commentary we identify gaps and challenges to combination vaccine use and make recommendations for promoting use of higher-valent pediatric combination vaccines in China.Challenges are in four dimensions:(1)legislation and regulation,(2)immunization schedule design,(3)vaccine awareness and price,and(4)research and development capacity.To optimize the use of combination vaccines to reduce vaccine-preventable disease burden,we make recommendations that address key challenges:(1)develop policies and regulations to strengthen enforcement of the Vaccine Administration Law and remove regulatory hurdles that hinder combination vaccine research and development,(2)establish an evi-dence-informed policy-making mechanism for combination vaccines,(3)resolve immunization schedule conflicts between monovalent and combination vaccines,and(4)implement effective interventions to increase vaccine awareness and reduce price.