Vaccines and immunization

For over two centuries, vaccines have helped make the world safe—from the very first vaccine developed to protect against smallpox to the newest mRNA vaccines used to prevent severe cases of COVID-19. Every year, vaccines save millions of lives.

Vaccines are available to prevent more than 20 life-threatening diseases, helping people live longer, healthier lives. They reduce risks of getting a disease by working with your body’s natural defences to build protection. When you get a vaccine, your immune system responds. 

Though immunization is widely recognized as one of the most successful and widespread tools we have to protect against vaccine-preventable diseases, not everyone has the same access to them. In the Western Pacific Region, nearly a million  children missed out on basic vaccines through routine immunization services in 2023, the majority never receiving a single vaccine dose.

Countries and areas in the Western Pacific continue to introduce new vaccinations for people of all ages.

Vaccines train your immune system to create antibodies, just as it does when it’s exposed to a disease. However, because vaccines contain only killed or weakened forms of germs like viruses or bacteria, they do not cause the disease or put you at risk of its complications.

Vaccines protect against many different diseases, including:

Not all these vaccinations may be needed in your country. Some may only be given prior to travel, in areas of risk, or to people in high-risk occupations. Talk to your healthcare worker to find out what vaccinations are needed for you and your family. 

Progress has been made in the Region towards the control, elimination and eradication of vaccine-preventable diseases. As of 2024, eight countries and areas in the Western Pacific Region have achieved measles elimination, seven have achieved rubella elimination, 26 have successfully reduced chronic hepatitis B infection among children to <1%, and the Region has maintained polio-free status. Furthermore, COVID-19 vaccines were rapidly and safely rolled out, achieving high coverage in many countries and areas.

Despite these successes, many people continue to be left behind by national immunization efforts. Immunity gaps led to the emergence, resurgence and large-scale, import-related outbreaks of several vaccine-preventable diseases in high-risk communities in the Region. Routine immunization programmes and vaccine-preventable disease surveillance systems were also seriously affected in many countries and areas amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

WHO is working with countries and partners to improve regional vaccination coverage, including through these initiatives endorsed by the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in October 2020.

The Regional Strategic Framework for Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and Immunization in the Western Pacific 2021-2030 was developed to expand the scope of immunization, maximize the benefits of vaccines and immunization programmes, and further accelerate control, and achieve and sustain elimination of additional vaccine-preventable diseases beyond those traditionally targeted, aiming to make the Region free from vaccine-preventable morbidity, mortality and disability in the Western Pacific Region towards 2030. The Regional Strategic Framework is also intended to support countries and areas of the Region to achieve the vision and seven strategic priorities of the Immunization Agenda 2030