Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 28 November 2025 (PAHO) - The Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment (MOHWE), with technical cooperation from the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO’s) Comprehensive Immunisation Programme (CIM) and financial support of GAVI, successfully completed a national training mission to implement the new Microplanning Tool for the routine immunisation programme.
The initiative forms part of the country’s efforts to reinforce operational planning, data quality and vaccination coverage, following recommendations from the 2023 Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) performance review and the Immunization Agenda 2030.
Over a ten-day period, PAHO facilitated three two-day training workshops with the participation of 53 health workers, including 45 nurses from all 36 health centres and four polyclinics, as well as eight staff members from the Community Nursing Services Office who oversee monthly immunisation data consolidation. The workshops combined theoretical components with hands-on practice, enabling participants to become familiar with all functional steps of the tool, from target estimation and calculation of vaccine requirements for outreach planning, monitoring and analysis of susceptible populations.
In its effort to strengthen health information systems, the country is also in the process of implementing the Electronic Immunisation Registry (EIR), which will soon be operational in all health facilities. The integration of the EIR with the microplanning tool will provide reliable and up-to-date data inputs, enabling more accurate population estimates, improved tracking of vaccination schedules and more efficient allocation of biologicals, particularly in centres without refrigerators.
Field visits to several health facilities in the Pembroke district provided insights into service organisation, cold chain practices and the operational benefits of applying the tool at clinic level. The microplanning tool will also support monitoring of recently introduced vaccines including rotavirus, pneumococcal, as well as Hexavalent and HPV coverage trends.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is also the first country in the Caribbean to implement the microplanning tool and the Electronic Immunisation Registry simultaneously, positioning the country as a regional reference and an important case study for strengthening routine immunisation systems.
PAHO/WHO Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries, Dr. Amalia Del Riego, recognizes GAVI’s support in strengthening the immunization programme in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and reaffirms PAHO’s continued commitment to the country.
“With the current immunization coverage trends in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines of 99% for MMR 1 and 2, Polio 1 and 3, and DTP 1 and 3, all above the threshold of 95%, the country has positioned itself to successfully sustain the elimination of vaccine preventable diseases. It is therefore important to identify the areas of lowest vaccination coverage within vulnerable districts and strengthen systems to track under vaccinated children and to efficiently plan to increase vaccine uptake with the use of new tools such as the Microplanning Tool and the Electronic Immunization Registry. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is the pioneer in using the microplanning tool in the English-Speaking Caribbean and trained health workers will in the future support the implementation of the tool in other countries.”
