During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries in the Americas strengthened their vaccine safety surveillance systems to monitor Events Supposedly Attributable to Vaccination or Immunization (ESAVI). This information greatly improved our understanding of the potential benefits and risks of COVID-19 vaccines. The Region needs sustained efforts to effectively communicate to the public the available evidence on the safety and risks related to vaccines. Digital communication is a crucial component of the current vaccine safety landscape.

About the VSN

The WHO’s Vaccine Safety Net (VSN) is a network of websites run by the World Health Organization (WHO) that helps internet users find reliable information on vaccine safety. The WHO awards the VSN logo to those websites that meet the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) criteria for good information practices, as a seal of recognition for reliable and evidence-based information on vaccine safety. These criteria can be found here.

PAHO’s goal

Through the Expansion of the WHO’s VSN in the Americas project, PAHO seeks to increase the number of internet sources that publish accurate and consistent information about vaccine safety in Spanish, Portuguese or English. To do so, PAHO will disseminate the VSN criteria to public health actors of the Americas so they may use them to further improve the quality and reach of their online content.