Do you share an interest in pharmacovigilance in LMICs? Are you looking to address the pharmacovigilance challenges created by the pandemic? Do you want to collaborate with like-minded individuals to meet these concerns?

Global Pharmacovigilance's 'Pharmacovigilance and COVID-19 in LMICS Working Groups' aim to promote discussion and gather consensus on the highest priorities for pharmacovigilance during the COVID-19 pandemic in low-resource settings.

Over 350 pharmacovigilance stakeholders from across the globe have come together in these group to discuss ideas, form collaborations and share and develop outputs and free resources that others can use. There is so much experience that can be applied during this time of immense strain on healthcare systems - let's use that to help this immediate need to support pharmacovigilnace activities, now!


Safety of COVID-19 Vaccination in Children and Pregnancy

This group is currently exploring the theme of communication in relation to vaccine safety information, with a specific focus on vaccination in children and pregnancy in LMICs.


Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine
Safety Data

This group is currently exploring approaches to improve real-time access to safety data in LMICs, in specific relation to COVID-19 vaccine safety data, in order to allow researchers to conduct their own analyses.

Background

On the 10th February 2022 and in collaboration with the ISoP Africa Chapter Executive Committee, Global Pharmacovigilance hosted an online open workshop, aiming to gather consensus on the priorities for pharmacovigilance in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The workshop sought to build on Global Pharmacovigilance's previous work, by inviting discussion on the findings of an earlier survey (also assessing pharmacovigilance priorities) and encouraging participants to share the challenges and barriers to pharmacovigilnace in their settings at that time.

These activities identified three key topics of focus:

  • The Safety of COVID-19 Vaccination in Pregnancy

  • The Safety of COVID-19 Vaccination in Children/Adolescents

  • The Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Data

Following the workshop, international working groups were formed by Global Pharmacovigilance members to explore these themes and identify ways to address key areas of concern. The groups first met in April 2022, and continue to meet on a monthly basis to discuss challenges and developments in these areas, and work together to develop and share relevant tools and materials to support pharmacovigilance activities in LMICs.

See Also: COVID-19 Research Implementation and Knowledge Hub

Launched in Jan 2020 in response to the emerging pandemic, the COVID-19 Research Implementation and Knowledge Hub aims to ensure that research teams can find the support, tools, resources and guidance that they need to aid their studies during this continually evolving situation. Using shared and open protocols and tools can raise research standards and enable easier and better data sharing.