Bhutan

The foundation for Bhutan’s successful 2020 national roll-out of the influenza vaccine was laid years earlier in collaboration with PIVI. The country created a sustainability plan, developed communications materials, created a vaccine coverage reporting system, and trained their health workers on influenza vaccine immunization. Bhutan plans to conduct an economic burden study in the future, as well as complete an iPIE (influenza Post-Introduction Evaluation).

This influenza vaccination process provided critical field experience when COVID-19 emerged as a threat. Bhutan used this relatively recent influenza vaccination framework to assess and inoculate high-risk groups against COVID-19. They were then able to successfully conduct mass vaccination after securing sufficient vaccine doses to cover more of their priority populations.