Some social groups do not have adequate access to vaccines or reliable information about vaccines, which is a consequence of their socioeconomic or geographic position and cultural or health specifics. The international project “Innovative Immunisation Hubs (ImmuHubs)“, with the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Philosophy as one of the participants, was created to respond to this situation with the aim of changing it.
We paid special attention to making contacts with different communities throughout Europe, within which we will organize “Innovative Centers for Immunization”. In this way, we want to gain direct insight into how services and practices related to immunization can be improved, with the aim of reducing social inequality and improving the health and well-being of vulnerable, isolated, and hard-to-reach groups.
After thorough research, the following population groups were recognized as underrepresented in the vaccination process in Serbia:
1) war veterans, homeless, and persons lacking documents,
2) Muslims from the Sandzak region and
3) Wallachians from Eastern Serbia.
The activities of our team are directed towards these groups.
We intend to proactively partner with grassroots groups, public health agencies, key stakeholders, and the general public to increase vaccine availability to vulnerable, isolated, and hard-to-reach populations.
The creation of innovative immunization hubs should contribute to increasing vaccination coverage in recognized risk groups, and we will strive to develop sustainable solutions for the vaccination protection of European citizens, both during and after the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The project lasts three years (2021-2024), is co-financed by the European Commission, and in addition to the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade, the project partners are Vienna Vaccine Safety Initiative (Germany) as coordinator, European Academy of Paediatrics (Belgium), European Parents’ Association (Belgium), Terveyden Ja Hyvinvoinnin Laitos (Finland), Praksis (Greece), Associação para Investigação, Desenvolvimento de Faculdade de Medicina (Portugal), European University Cyprus (Cyprus) and University of Rzeszów (Poland).
To learn more about the ImmuHubs project, our plans for the future, and the new concepts of the Innovative Immunisation Hubs, visit our website: https://immunisationhubs.eu/
