The World Helath Organization Immunization Week has began on the theme: ‘Vaccines bring us closer’.
World Immunization Week 2021 (April 24th-30th) will show how vaccination connects us to the people, goals and moments that matter to us most, helping improve the health of everyone, everywhere throughout life.
Previously, Immunization Week activities were observed on different dates in different regions of the world. Immunization Week was observed simultaneously for the first time in 2012, with the participation of more than 180 countries and territories worldwide.
World Immunization Week, celebrated every year in the last week of April aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease.
As of April 2021, almost 70 preventive immunization campaigns in over 60 countries remain postponed due to COVID-19, and routine immunization coverage is down globally, including in the United States.
COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on immunization and broader health programs have thrust vaccines into the forefront of public health discussions.
As part of the 2021 campaign, WHO, partners and individuals around the world will unite to:
Increase trust and confidence in vaccines to maintain or increase vaccine acceptance,
Increase investment in vaccines, including routine immunization to remove barriers to access.
While the world focuses on critically important new vaccines to protect against COVID-19, there remains a need to ensure routine vaccinations are not missed. Many children have not been vaccinated during the global pandemic, leaving them at risk of serious diseases like measles and polio. Rapidly circulating misinformation around the topic of vaccination adds to this threat.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Kofi Atakora
