The World Health Organization (WHO) marks the last week of April, from 24th to 30th, as World Immunisation Week. This year, the theme of the week is 'Long Life For All'. The week aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. It estimates that about 1.5 million deaths worldwide can be prevented due to timely vaccination.
“Vaccines have been indiscriminately saving lives since 1796. The first Smallpox immunization was a fight back against disease. For the first time, it gave everyone a chance. And hundreds of vaccines later, across two and a quarter centuries, billions of people have lived longer lives...” states WHO.
Till now, vaccinations have helped in preventing sickness and death associated with around 20 diseases including- Cervical cancer, Cholera, Diphtheria, Hepatitis B, Influenza, Japanese encephalitis, Measles, Meningitis, Mumps, Pneumonia, Polio, Yellow fever, etc. Recently, the shots developed against Covid-19 have also proved to curb the risk of hospitalization and death. "Vaccines have proven their efficacy time and again and in today's time vaccinated people have chances of leading a better life," Dr Raja Dhar, Pulmonologist from CMRI, Kolkata, told IANS.
"Vaccines are the most important preventive measure that also helps in longevity and reduces the morbidity rates. This is the best time to talk about vaccines as more than 29 vaccine-preventable infections are present. When vaccination is given timely, the immunity gets stronger irrespective of age," added Mumbai-based pulmonologist Dr Agam Vora.
Yet, with the onset of COVID in 2020 across the world, as per the WHO data, the number of completely unvaccinated children, in the same year, increased by 3.4 million. In 2020, 23 million children missed out on basic childhood vaccines through routine health services, the highest number since 2009. Only 19 vaccine introductions were reported in 2020, less than half of any year in the past two decades. The global coverage dropped from 86% in 2019 to 83% in 2020, which is worrisome, since the world is also seeing outbreaks of infectious diseases such as measles and hepatitis.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted immunization services, health systems have been overwhelmed, and we are now seeing a resurgence of deadly diseases including measles. For many other diseases, the impact of these disruptions to immunization services will be felt for decades to come," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, in a statement recently. "Now is the moment to get essential immunization back on track and launch catch-up campaigns so that everybody can have access to these life-saving vaccines," he added.
The WHO noted that reported worldwide measles cases increased by 79 per cent in the first two months of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. The global health agency also recorded at least 169 cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origin in about 12 countries. While children getting vaccinated is a common topic of discussion, adult immunization is also the need of the hour, the experts said.
Adults, and elderly people with underlying conditions such as respiratory disease, diabetes, hypertension, and kidney diseases, among others are more vulnerable to infections that can be effectively prevented by vaccines, which would also help increase life expectancy. As per a National Statistical Office Report, India's elderly population is going to increase by 41 per cent, with more people being vulnerable to diseases, the greatest benefit of vaccination would be reduced hospitalization and severity, Dhar said. "To increase immunization coverage in India, everybody needs to take ownership of getting themselves vaccinated according to the schedule. Only then will we be part of a healthy community," he added.
(With agency inputs)
Also Read: Antibiotics can blunt babies' immune response to key vaccines
