VARN2023 Conference

The Sabin Vaccine Institute’s Vaccination Acceptance Research Network (VARN) hosted its second conference co-convened with UNICEF and co-sponsored by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and in support of COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership priority countries. This conference was an in-person event. Conference sessions provided a space for exploration and facilitated the wide dissemination of a growing body of knowledge, practice, and evidence-informed strategies for driving action across the vaccination acceptance, demand and delivery ecosystem. Session recordings are available on the conferencing website.

  View the agenda    View the Report

In 2022, Sabin’s inaugural VARN conference and the COVID-19 global demand event, co-hosted by UNICEF and partners, brought together over 1500 global experts as registered attendees across 126 countries. Participants represented diverse disciplines including global health and policy, research and academia, and healthcare and health communications.

VARN2023 provided an opportunity for the sharing of knowledge from research and practice, as well as agenda setting around three core themes:

1. Vaccine equity: setting a new course for reaching marginalized and zero-dose communities, conflict-settings, and reducing gender barriers
2. Reimagining essential childhood immunization: a reversal of current trends and improved integration into comprehensive health service delivery programs (from policy to community-level responses)
3. Life-course immunization: extending the opportunities of COVID-19 vaccination investments to integrate, expand and strengthen LCI (HPV vaccination, future pandemic preparedness, and healthy aging).

VARN2023 featured conference sessions focused on both vaccine demand generation and social listening to mitigate rumors and misinformation about vaccines and vaccination, as these critical components cut across all core themes.

VARN2023 provided simultaneous live audio interpretation in French and English for all sessions. All posters in English and French had translated abstract handouts provided.

Explore the VARN2022 conference report and recordings for insights from last year’s convening.

Frequently asked questions   AGENDA

The Sabin Vaccine Institute is a leading advocate for expanding vaccine access and uptake globally, advancing vaccine research and development, and amplifying vaccine knowledge and innovation. Unlocking the potential of vaccines through partnership, Sabin has built a robust ecosystem of funders, innovators, implementers, practitioners, policy makers and public stakeholders to advance its vision of a future free from preventable diseases. As a non-profit with more than two decades of experience, Sabin is committed to finding solutions that last and extending the full benefits of vaccines to all people, regardless of who they are or where they live. At Sabin, we believe in the power of vaccines to change the world.

UNICEF believes that taking people centered approaches in the design of the delivery and utilization of health programmes is fundamental to ensure that immunization and other health services are tailored to the needs of the most vulnerable, particularly in zero dose and under-vaccinated communities. To achieve this, UNICEF supports countries to develop evidence-based, locally-informed, context-specific strategies with active community participation to improve vaccine uptake.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 981 million children – and prevented more than 16.2 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 lower-income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation, above all the zero-dose children who have not received even a single vaccine shot. The Vaccine Alliance employs innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with Gavi on Facebook and Twitter.