Immunization: Strategies, Perspectives and Case Studies

This book critically analyses various policies and perspectives relating to immunization over the last half a century and reflects on the lessons and best practices. It explores the political economy of Immunization in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a mass reckoning on the preparedness for a health emergency, based on planning and strategy of allocating resources--monetary, infrastructure and manpower.

This transdisciplinary volume is framed through a large gamut of immunization perspectives, including the importance of policy formulation, health economics, program implementation. It illuminates the role of social and behaviour change communication in demand generation and the importance of mainstreaming vaccine hesitant families and communities. Supply chain management, logistics and the role and scope of digital technology are other areas of discussion. It also addresses human rights issues in war zones and the need for equity in immunization to reach out to vulnerable communities, especially women and children.

This book will be useful to students and faculty of public health schools, people engaged in public health program implementation, especially in immunization across the globe encompassing policy makers, program implementers, monitoring and evaluation personnel, behaviour change professionals, frontline workers, UN organizations like WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, donor organizations among others including CSOs and NGOs.

Jaishri Jethwaney did her PhD in Media and Elections from JNU, her MA in Political Science from Delhi University and professional education in mass communication and journalism both in India and abroad. Currently Dr. Jethwaney works in the Public Health domain at ITSU, MoHFW in Strategic Communication.

After her long innings at IIMC spanning over 25 years as Professor & Program Director, she did a two-year senior research fellowship at ICSSR, which led to a seminal study of the Indian news media industry. Among her many books that she has authored, the latest ones include, Wages and Related Issues -a Critical Appraisal of News Media Industry in India (ICSSR-AF, 2025), The Beauty Paradigm: Gender Discourse in Indian Advertising (Sage, 2022); When India Votes (Rupa, 2019), and Social Sector Communication (Sage, 2016, Routledge 2024).

Pritu Dhalaria is a Public Health Specialist with over 30 years of extensive experience in public health, particularly in Maternal and Child Health, communicable and non-communicable diseases, immunization, program implementation, and partnerships. With an MBBS, DCM and M.D in Community Medicine, his foundational studies and varied experiences have given him a robust understanding of medical sciences and public health principles, which he has applied throughout his career to address critical health challenges.

During his long and illustrious career, Dr. Dhalaria has worked across all the levels of the public health system, from grassroots implementation to the involvement in decision-making processes across South Asia.

In retrospect, he began his professional journey in public health in 1996 after completing his education, beginning as a Research Medical Officer on Malaria Research and Intervention on sexual health. He has served in various prestigious public health organization, including WHO, PATH, IAVI, JSI, and currently heads Immunization Technical Support Unit (ITSU) under the Immunization Division of the MoHFW Government of India. He has published more than 25 research papers in national and international journals and contributed to many technical reports, which have helped in shaping the public health policy.