We are impressed by the terrific work of the Coalition for Life Course Immunization (CLCI) and want to spread their call to action for improving European health.
CLCI understands the importance of a systematic, data-driven decision-making approach to policymaking as the coalition specializes in combating viral diseases through vaccination.
Such an approach can be achieved by supporting National Immunization and Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs), using modern technologies to expand systematic testing and monitoring, and building public trust in data-driven decisions.
Global.health, for instance, has set a “100 Day Mission” to provide decision-makers, researchers, and the public with timely and accurate data during the early phase of an outbreak when the chance for containment is highest. Researchers from institutions around the world created the open-source platform to access real-time, anonymized health data on infectious disease outbreaks, including COVID-19. With over 100 million verified case records from 130+ countries, it is a comprehensive repository of COVID-19 line-list data. This could, for example, prevent journalists who do not fully understand certain concepts and terminology from unintentionally spreading misunderstandings that fuel mistrust.
Professor Joe Schmitt, CLCI board member and Editor-in-Chief of Global Health Press, gets to the point by saying: “The situation today is an infodemic, which gives rise to the good (more data usually means more informed decisions), the bad (we are lost in data that requires high-quality analysis and interpretation), and the ugly (fake news is and will always be with us).”
Find out more by reading CLCI’s policy paper, which unequivocally explains how data-driven decisions can create healthier lives and stronger communities, and take a look at CLCI’s
call to action that will strengthen our collective ability to protect the health of individuals and communities across Europe.
