Submitted by sjc313 on Fri, 27/06/2025 - 08:08
Dr Mohammad Sharif Razai, NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care
We often assume that the most challenging part of healthcare innovation is developing the intervention – whether it is designing a vaccine, discovering a drug, or creating new technology. Once this is achieved, we celebrate it as a triumph and expect the rest to fall neatly into place. However, this overlooks the critical – and often more difficult – task of implementation. Our experience with maternal immunisations shows that developing the vaccine is only the beginning.
Vaccines on the shelf or in a fridge cannot save lives or achieve public health objectives unless taken up by the intended population. Vaccination programmes must therefore move beyond the laboratory and into the lived realities of pregnant women, where trust, misinformation, systemic barriers and social norms converge. The challenging work begins here. Many public health interventions falter because they attempt to address a single factor in isolation, neglecting the complex and interacting web of drivers that influence behaviour. A narrow focus may miss critical nuances, whereas a more integrative approach – drawing on behavioural science, sociology and public health – can uncover novel solutions.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1177/01410768251335168
Featured Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01771-z