WHO Reiterates Call for Immunization for All

On Tuesday, the WHO acknowledged that global vaccination coverage is quite good so far, yet the world is experiencing sudden outbreaks of diphtheria and measles, diseases that are almost under control.

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In a report on the relevance of immunization campaigns, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that, "while vaccine coverage is efficient (four out of five children are fully covered), we still have more to do."

The health body acknowledged that in recent years - especially during the Covid-19 pandemic - progress on immunization has slowed.

"While more than four million more infants were vaccinated in 2022 than in 2021, there were still 20 million children who did not receive one or more of their corresponding injectables. Growing conflicts, economic crises and increasing doubts about vaccines are among the threats to efforts to achieve better indicators," the text notes. On the other hand, he pointed out that the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) started in 1974 focused on protecting all children against six childhood diseases and today this number has increased to 13 universally recommended vaccines throughout life and 17 additional ones that depend on the context in which they live.

With that initiative, now called the Essential Program on Immunization, in just five decades we went from a world where the death of a child was something many parents feared, to one where every child - if vaccinated - has a chance to survive and thrive.

"The recently concluded World Immunization Week celebrated 50 years of the EPI, recognizing our collective efforts to save and improve countless lives from preventable diseases and calling on countries to increase investments in immunization programs to protect the next generation," the WHO report adds.

It also stresses that immunization campaigns led to the eradication of smallpox and the near defeat of polio.

"These processes in the second half of the 20th century are among humanity's greatest achievements," the organization says.