2024 World Immunization Week, April 24-30:
The Theme is: “Humanly Possible: Saving lives through immunization.” This theme celebrates the 50-year anniversary of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), a program established by the WHO to provide all children—regardless of their socioeconomic status or where they live—access to vaccines.
Previously, Immunization Week activities were observed on different dates in different regions of the world.
The World Health Assembly endorsed World Immunization Week during its May 2012 meeting. Following this, Immunization Week was observed simultaneously for the first time in 2012, with the participation of more than 180 countries and territories worldwide.
22.6 million infants worldwide are still missing out on basic vaccines, mostly in developing countries.
This often result from limited resources, competing health priorities, poor management of health systems and inadequate surveillance.
The goal of World Immunization Week is to raise public awareness of how immunization saves lives, and support people everywhere to get the vaccinations needed against deadly diseases for themselves and their children.
As the slogan says; “Vaccines save lives, help children learn and grow and prevent serious illness and disability”.
“In just five decades we went from a world where the death of a child was something many parents feared, to a world where every child – if vaccinated – has a chance to survive and thrive,” the WHO says on its website.
Immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that each dollar spent on immunization programs in low- and middle-income countries brings a $52 USD return on investment. Still, vaccines remain out of reach for millions worldwide due to their location or socioeconomic standing, according to the WHO. This lack of access not only puts the health of individuals at risk—it also poses a threat to public health on a global level.
Vaccine hesitancy, where people delay or refuse vaccines for themselves or their children, remains a growing challenge for immunization programmes globally. According to WHO, 1 in 5 children still do not receive routine life-saving immunizations, and an estimated 1.5 million children still die each year of diseases that could be prevented by vaccines that already exist.
