DID YOU KNOW that the last week of April is celebrated as World Immunization Week every year? This annual celebration aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against diseases. This year, the celebration is more significant considering the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Immunization saves millions of lives every year and is widely recognized as one of the world’s most successful health interventions. Yet, according to the World Health Organization, there are still nearly 20 million children in the world today who are not getting the vaccines they need, and many miss out on vital vaccines during adolescence, adulthood and into old age.
Health authorities, indeed all governments, have the moral obligation to promote the importance of vaccination in improving the health and wellbeing of everyone, everywhere throughout life.
The big challenge in this time of pandemic are to increase trust and confidence in vaccines to maintain or increase vaccine acceptance, and increase investment in vaccines, including routine immunization, to remove barriers to access.
Yes, while the world focuses on critically important new vaccines to protect against COVID-19, there remains a need to ensure routine vaccinations are not missed. Many children have not been vaccinated during the pandemic, leaving them at risk of serious diseases like measles and polio. Rapidly circulating misinformation around the topic of vaccination adds to this threat. Health experts and governments must endeavor to build solidarity and trust in vaccination as a public good that saves lives and protects health. This is a lifesaving cause.
For over 200 years, vaccines have protected us against diseases that threaten lives and prohibit our development. With their help, we can progress without the burden of diseases like smallpox and polio, which cost humanity hundreds of millions of lives. While vaccines aren’t a silver bullet, they will help us progress on a path to a world where we can be together again.
The good news is that vaccines themselves continue to advance, bringing us closer to a world free from the likes of TB and cervical cancer, and ending suffering from childhood diseases like measles. Investment and new research is enabling groundbreaking approaches to vaccine development, which are changing the science of safe immunization forever, bringing us closer still to a healthier future.
