About Vaccine Safety Net

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The Vaccine Safety Net is a global network of websites, established by the World Health Organization, that provides reliable information on vaccine safety.

School girl smilingThe Vaccine Safety Net is a global network of websites, established by the World Health Organization, that provides reliable information on vaccine safety.

Due to the success of immunization, some diseases are no longer perceived as a threat. Certain groups have even questioned the utility of vaccination in spite of its proven success in controlling disease. In recent years, a number of web sites providing unbalanced, misleading and alarming vaccine safety information have been established, which can lead to undue fears, particularly among parents and patients.

Acknowledging the above-mentioned issues and urged by governments, key non-governmental organizations and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), WHO initiated, in 2003, the Vaccine Safety Net Project (VSN).

The VSN is a network of a diverse group of digital information resources (websites and social media), VSN members, located in countries around the world and providing scientifically based information on vaccine safety in various languages.

A key player in the Project is the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS), established by WHO in 1999, to respond promptly, efficiently, and with scientific rigour to vaccine safety issues of potential global importance. See GACVS webpage

At the outset of the Project, GACVS developed three categories of criteria for good information practices - regarding credibility, content, accessibility and design to which digital resources providing information on vaccine safety should adhere. WHO evaluates those electronic resources for their adherence to these criteria.

Mission

The Vaccine Safety Net is a WHO initiative aiming to help internet users find reliable information on vaccine safety

Vision

The Vaccine Safety Net strives to ensure that reliable, understandable, evidence-based information on the safety of vaccines is available on the web and readily found by all

Goals

To facilitate easy access to reliable, understandable, evidence-based information on the safety of vaccines for internet users, regardless of their geographic location and language

To collaborate at an international level to increase awareness about vaccines, reduce vaccine hesitancy and strengthen confidence in vaccines by:
- seeking to better understand internet users’ needs, behaviours and preferences
- providing reliable information tailored to users’ needs
- communicating vaccine safety information through a diversity of digital channels

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About the VSN Portal

The VSN portal is owned by the World Health Organization and is administrated by the Vaccine Safety Net Secretariat. It benefits from the advice of the VSN Advisory Group. The VSN portal is sponsored by WHO’s and partners’ grants and is independent from the pharmaceutical industry.The publicly available area of the VSN portal consist of the collection of resources that are available from the members websites.

The aim of the Portal is to share the numerous and useful resources from VSN members’ and make them available to the public, health practitioners and policymakers.

The portal contains also a section for VSN members only. This section of the portal aims to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and collaboration among the VSN members.

  • Isabelle Sahinovic

  • Dr Smaragda Lamprianou

  • Brian Yau

  • Tala Ghalayini