Emma Holcroft on The Power of Vaccination
Episode 11
In our latest episode of Trail Blazers, Johnny is joined by Emma Holcroft, Co-Founder & CEO at Imunis, who have a mission, quite simply, to be THE digital health platform that enables society to have clarity on their vaccination history and their current vaccine status, empowering them to look after their health.
Join us as Johnny and Emma dive deep into the world of healthcare data, vaccination, and the future of medicine. Such as, did you know that in today’s world a patient will take 15 - 100 vaccines in their lifetime, with as many as 17 different healthcare providers? But if we were to ask you right now, do you know your vaccine status? Could you tell us? This simple question highlights the importance of the work Emma and Imunis are doing because every patient should know their health story. And as parents we should understand what vaccines our children have had and are up to date with quickly and most importantly accurately.
Emma is passionate about joining patient vaccination records and making sense of the data that they hold, to ensure that everyone has the protection that they need. This becomes particularly relevant when we consider the role that this work might play in tackling antimicrobial resistance or those bugs that are resistant to antibiotics. Over 35,000,000 antibiotics are prescribed each year in the UK and many for conditions that are viral, on which these powerful drugs will have no effect. Understanding what vaccines you have had however, including the flu vaccine would allow many to be able to help our doctors and GPs determine whether antibiotics are appropriate.
Continuing on from this theme highlighted the importance of resource allocation and appropriate use of limited resources. It's a common scenario where efforts must be redirected to address outbreaks or implement catch-up vaccination campaigns. However, this reallocation of resources often incurs costs elsewhere in the system. These costs can manifest in various ways, including strained healthcare budgets, diverted personnel from other essential tasks, and delayed or deferred non-urgent healthcare services. As a result, it's crucial to consider the broader impact of these resource shifts and explore strategies to minimise their disruptive effects on the healthcare system's overall functioning and sustainability.
We also discuss how technology can help in keeping these records accurate going forward through centralised systems. What work the government may need to do in mandating legislation to ensure providers make greater efforts in being interoperable. As well as touching upon vaccine values, the hesitancy that can go alongside and the misconception that vaccines are only for children.
Stay tuned for another eye opening episode!
