WHO position paper on hepatitis E vaccines - May 2015

Overview

In accordance with its mandate to provide guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and vaccine combinations against diseases that have an international public health impact. These papers are concerned primarily with the use of vaccines in largescale immunization programmes. They summarize essential background information on the diseases and respective vaccines, and conclude with the current WHO position concerning their use in the global context.

This is the first WHO position paper on hepatitis E vaccination. It focuses primarily on the available evidence concerning the only hepatitis E vaccine that is currently licensed. Recommendations on the use of this hepatitis E vaccine were discussed by SAGE in October 2014; evidence presented at this meeting can be accessed at: http://www.who.int/immunization/sage/ meetings/2014/october/en/