Albania

Albania’s existing government-funded national influenza vaccine program for healthcare workers was considerably strengthened when the country joined PIVI. PIVI worked with the Institute of Public Health (IPH) and the South East European Center of Infectious Diseases Surveillance and Control (SECID), a multi-country public health partner, to help Albania vaccinate more healthcare workers and other target group members.

In an effort to better understand predictors of and barriers to vaccination, Albanian partners also conducted a Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) survey among pregnant women and their health care providers. Soon after, Albania participated in a pilot of the World Health Organization’s FLUTool, a guide that helps estimate the costs of expanding a national influenza immunization program. Albania has also updated their influenza immunization registry and coordinated a regional expert workshop for influenza policy in SE Europe.

In the face of COVD-19, Albania modified its influenza vaccination campaign to boost infrastructure, coordination, and data collection monitoring through a web-based immunization information system. It worked to improve the overall safety of the process and promote vaccination by distributing new vaccine marketing materials.