Thirty-eighth Meeting of Managers of the Caribbean Expanded Program on Immunization: Final report, Saint Kitts and Nevis, 28–29 October 2024

The Thirty-eighth Meeting of Managers of the Caribbean Expanded Program on Immunization was held on 28–29 October 2024 in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis. Sixty-five participants convened from 25 countries and territories of the British West Indies and the Dutch Caribbean. Participants included representatives from the ministries of health, Caribbean Public Health Agency, Caribbean Community, and Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). The overall objective of the meeting was to analyze achievements for 2023, review the challenges of 2023 and 2024 in the context of the elimination agenda and new vaccines, and plan activities for 2025 while sharing country experiences on the immunization program. Specific objectives included to review the status of the Expanded Program on Immunization in the Region of the Americas and the Caribbean and to identify areas that require strengthening; to discuss the status in countries of the surveillance and management of vaccine-preventable diseases, identify the gaps and the way forward; to update information on selective topics of common interest to countries in relation to immunization, service delivery, new vaccine introductions, vaccine procurement, and surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases; and to share country experiences on sustaining polio/measles/rubella elimination and all other aspects of the Expanded Program on Immunization. Peter Figueroa of the Regional Technical Advisory Group on Immunization and President of the Caribbean Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (CITAG) chaired the meeting. He welcomed four new EPI managers: Soria Dupie-Winston from Antigua and Barbuda; Yvonette Anatol Carbon from Dominica; Alex Ackie from Montserrat; and Ferrosa Roache from the British Virgin Islands. He also provided a presentation following the opening ceremony regarding the importance of the CITAG and its terms of reference; an update on immunization legislation in the Caribbean; and the need to continue sustaining the EPI gains.