Procedures leading to a recommendation on immunization: the role of different institutions, from marketing authorization to reimbursements

Article published in "Actualité et dossier en santé publique" (ADSP) – Vaccinations, n°71, June 2010. ADSP is a publication of the French High Council for Public Health. The vaccination policy is developed by the Minister of Health who sets out the conditions of immunization, the necessary recommendations and makes public the vaccination schedule after consulting the High Council for Public Health (HCSP). Immunization recommendations are therefore the responsibility of politics, which rely on a structure of expertise: the HCSP. In fact, the expertise in immunization is under the responsibility of the Technical Committee on Immunization (CTV), which operates within the Commission specialized in communicable diseases of the HCSP.