World Immunization Week and its Significance

Image Courtesy: WHO

World Immunization Week, celebrated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed and to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. The observation begins on 24 April and concludes on 30 April.

WHO uses its convening power to raise awareness about the importance of vaccines and immunizations across the globe. By doing so, it ensures that governments receive the guidance and technical assistance necessary for the implementation of high-quality immunization programs. The ultimate goal of World Immunization Week is to ensure that more people – and their communities – are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Theme of World Immunization Week 2022

World Immunization Week, celebrated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed and to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. The observation begins on 24 April and concludes on 30 April.

The theme of World Immunization Week 2022 is “LongLifeforAll” Here are theme of World Immunization Week for the previous years:

• The Theme of World Immunization Week 2021: Vaccines bring us closer
• The Theme of World Immunization Week 2020: VaccinesWork for All

International Men’s Day 2021

Quick Facts about Immunization

Here are quick facts about immunization and its impact on the human:

• Immunization currently prevents between 2–3 million deaths every year
• More children are being immunized worldwide than ever before. In 2016, an estimated 116.5 million (about 86%) children under the age of one year worldwide received three doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine.
• An estimated 19.5 million children under the age of one year did not receive the DTP3 vaccine.
• The world is closer than ever to eradicating polio
• Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus, which usually results in a high fever and rash, and can lead to blindness, encephalitis or death. Global measles deaths have decreased by 84% from an estimated 550 000 deaths in 2000 to 89 780 in 2016.
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Future World Immunization Week Observations

History of World Immunization Week

The World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO, endorsed World Immunization Week in May 2012. Prior to 2012, Immunization Week activities were observed on different dates throughout the world. In 2012, the world’s first “World Immunization Week” was observed, with more than 180 countries and territories taking part simultaneously.

In the year 1796, the basis for vaccination was laid. According to English doctor Edward Jenner, milkmaids who had contracted cowpox were protected from smallpox. They also knew about variolation, which was one of the first methods of controlling smallpox. Named after the variola virus, the causative organism of smallpox, variolation was a process during which people who had never contracted smallpox were exposed to material from smallpox sores called pustules by scratching the material into their arm or inhaling it through the nose. Fewer people died because of variolation, compared to the number of deaths that would have occurred if smallpox was acquired naturally.

Read Also: Monkeypox Q&A: how do you catch it and what are the risks? An expert explains Ed Feil, University of Bath

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