Vaccines: the powerful innovations bringing WHO’s mission to life every day

If I was asked to name a public health intervention that fulfils WHO’s mission to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable, I wouldn’t hesitate to say: vaccines.

Without a doubt, vaccines are one of the most life-saving public health interventions in history. WHO estimates that immunization saves the lives of 2.5 million people each year and protects millions more from illness and disability (1).

Today, more children are being immunized than ever before resulting in declines in child mortality, birth defects and lifelong disabilities. The world is also closer than ever to eradicating polio. Measles and rubella have been eliminated from the Americas, and maternal and neonatal tetanus has been eliminated in South-East Asia.

When each child or adult is immunized and a disease eliminated or eradicated, WHO is delivering on its goals to keep the world safe, promote health and serve the vulnerable.

Let’s take a closer look at how immunization is central to WHO’s mission.

Promoting health through immunization

Vaccines help children and adults stay healthy by preventing potentially deadly diseases. Through WHO’s routine immunization schedules, 10 vaccines form the backbone  of every national immunization programme.

These universal vaccines promote health by preventing diseases, such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, measles, rubella, rotavirus, hepatitis B, Haemophilus Influenzae type b, and  human papillomavirus, which impact all children and adults no matter where they live.

Vaccines not only protect those who have been immunized, but can also reduce disease among those who cannot be immunized. Working with national immunization programmes, and partners such as UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO helped an estimated 116.5 million infants (86%) receive 3 doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine in 2016. However, more needs to be done  to reach an estimated 19.5 million children who still miss out on the life-saving benefits of immunization.

When countries strengthen their routine immunization programmes these serve as a building block for strong primary health care and universal health coverage. Through routine immunization programmes, health workers are bringing life-saving vaccines to people around the world, and serving as a point of contact for other health needs such as deworming, vitamins and other services required to ensure maximum growth.

In 2016 alone, health workers immunized more than 62 million children in the world’s poorest countries, which equates to over 185 million points of contact between these children and the primary health care system (2).

Immunization keeps the world safe

Diseases  know no borders. Despite millions of lives being saved through immunization each year, outbreaks are still occurring, due to low immunization coverage in many parts of the world. Vaccines help ensure that deadly diseases such as measles and pneumonia don’t take hold in refugee camps, schools and places of worship, or when people cross borders for work or vacation.

For example, outbreaks of measles continue to occur due to gaps in measles immunization coverage. In Europe alone, over 20 000 cases of measles and 35 lives were lost in 2017 (3). With every measles case, we are reminded that unvaccinated children and adults remain at risk of acquiring and transmitting the disease to others, regardless of  where they live.

In the past year, WHO and partners have also worked to keep the world safe through delivering cholera vaccines in South Sudan, yellow fever vaccines in Brazil and Nigeria, and polio vaccines in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Today, the world is close to eradicating polio and WHO is working with countries to eliminate other vaccine-preventable diseases, such as maternal and neonatal tetanus.

Immunization is central to serving the vulnerable

At WHO, we are also working to ensure the most vulnerable—those affected by humanitarian emergencies and conflicts, as well as those in hard to reach places, are vaccinated on time, every time. This means we collect data to try to understand how to reduce the barriers to immunization, and work with partners to ensure vaccines reach refugees, such as those living in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

Immunization is central to quality health coverage and is a vital investment in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals— even those not directly related to health. When children are healthy, money for medical expenses can contribute towards other priorities, and communities can thrive.

As we celebrate World Immunization Week, let’s continue to make immunization a priority and work to increase immunization coverage so that everyone, everywhere is “Protected Together”.