Vaccine procurement and supply

Ensuring vaccine procurement and supply is a continuous process of establishing and strengthening national regulatory authorities (NRA) in the WHO European Region for both vaccine-producing and non-producing countries. WHO technically and financially supports the external assessment of NRA performance in priority countries in the Region. These evaluations help identify training needs, which are addressed through staff participation in the WHO global training network (GTN). This is a network of training centres that offer instruction to national NRA staff on vaccine production, quality control, licensing, procurement and surveillance-related topics. Training centres also exist for Russian-speaking countries for several of these topics.

Vaccine supply, sustainability and self-sufficiency are progressing notably in the Region. Most of the low middle income countries have become self-sufficient in procuring vaccines, while a few of them still need varying external support for traditional vaccines, such as through United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) procurement services.