European Immunization Week 2022

24 – 30 April 2022

For over 2 centuries, vaccines have helped make the world safer – from the very first vaccine developed to protect against smallpox to the newest mRNA vaccines used to prevent severe cases of COVID-19. Vaccines protect us as individuals and help us protect each other as members of the global community. The 2022 theme for European Immunization Week (EIW) is “Long Life for All”. It aims to reinforce the importance of equitable and expanded access to vaccines, to contribute to a long and healthy life for everyone.

This year EIW brings together partners and collaborators across the WHO European Region to focus on the importance of vaccines to protect people of all ages and backgrounds against vaccine-preventable diseases, and to remember the seismic historical impact of vaccines. Much has been achieved, and progress in controlling many diseases has accelerated in the past few decades, but 2022 is also a crossroads that presents many challenges.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased politicization of vaccines and a decrease in childhood vaccination rates in several countries. Immunization services have been disrupted in Ukraine and all children who have fled the country will need access to routine childhood vaccines wherever they go. These challenges make the importance of universal access to vaccines clearer than ever. During EIW, WHO/Europe will work with its Member States and partners to create awareness about the benefits of vaccines and the risks of any decrease in vaccination rates.

• A Long Life for All is not a promise, it's an ambition. Because everyone deserves a chance at a fulfilling life.
• Vaccines have been indiscriminately saving lives since 1798. The first smallpox immunization gave everyone, for the first time, a fair chance against a devastating disease.
• Vaccines’ worth isn't measured in doses given. It's in lives lived healthier and longer.
• Vaccines provide opportunity and hope for all of us to enjoy a more fulfilling life. And that's something we should all be fighting for.
• Vaccines are one of the most impactful scientific innovations of all time, helping to protect generation after generation against many infectious diseases.
• Parents who have access to vaccination services need not worry about their children suffering from devastating diseases that plagued past generations.
• Vaccines to prevent once-common diseases like measles, and several causes of diarrheal disease and pneumonia, are allowing more children around the world to live longer, more fulfilling lives.
• All people, everywhere must have easy access to the vaccines they need and deserve.

European Region

• The European Region has sustained its polio-free status since 2002.
• 29 of 53 countries in the Region have eliminated endemic spread of both measles and rubella.
• Diphtheria outbreaks have not been reported in the Region since the early 1990s.
• Over 600 million people in the European Region have been vaccinated against COVID-19, thereby saving an untold number of lives. A study by WHO/Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) estimated that 470 000 lives were saved among those aged 60 years and over in the first 11 months of СOVID-19 vaccination rollout in 33 countries across the WHO European Region.
• During the pandemic, childhood vaccination rates declined in several European countries. It is very important that children who have missed doses get back on schedule to prevent outbreaks of deadly diseases.
• Migrants and refugees must have access to needed vaccinations, to protect them from diseases that could be circulating wherever they are located.

Background

The WHO European Region celebrates European Immunization Week (EIW) to raise awareness of the importance of immunization in preventing diseases and protecting life.

EIW was first implemented by a small number of countries in 2005. The goal was to increase vaccination coverage by raising awareness of every child’s need and right to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases. Since its initial realization, EIW has become one of the most visible public health campaigns in the Region. All countries of the Region are invited to participate in EIW, and contribute to the event by engaging public health institutes, health-care professionals, policy- and decision-makers, as well as parents and caregivers. Key messages about vaccines will be spread across the Region through information campaigns, interviews, technical meetings, expert panel debates, television programmes, scientific conferences and many other activities.

As one of the most cost-effective health interventions, vaccination is a cornerstone of universal health coverage (UHC) and vital to achieving optimal health for all, everywhere. Progress towards UHC and Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) – ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages – are priorities in the Region and around the world. Through raising awareness of the importance of immunization, the activities implemented as part of EIW aim to increase vaccination coverage and thus ultimately contribute to UHC and SDG3 across the Region.