A health worker in Yemen vaccinates a young boy during a community awareness campaign (file photo).
A landmark study to be published in the medical journal The Lancet shows that global immunization efforts have saved an estimated 154 million lives over the past 50 years, equivalent to six lives per minute per year, and the vast majority of lives saved are infants.
Vaccines are 'one of the greatest inventions of all time'
The study, led by the World Health Organization, shows that immunization is the most important contribution of all health interventions, not only to ensure that babies have their first birthday, but also to help them continue to live healthy lives into adulthood.
Studies have shown that measles vaccination has the most significant impact on reducing infant mortality, accounting for 60% of lives saved as a result of immunization. This vaccine will likely remain the biggest contributor to preventing deaths in the future.
Over the past 50 years, vaccination against 14 diseases (diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type b, hepatitis B, Japanese encephalitis, measles, meningitis A, pertussis, invasive pneumococcal disease, poliomyelitis, rotavirus, rubella, tetanus, tuberculosis and yellow fever) has directly contributed to a 40% reduction in infant mortality globally and more than half in Africa.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that vaccines are one of the greatest inventions in history, making once fearful diseases preventable. Smallpox has been eradicated thanks to vaccines, polio is on the verge of extinction, and with the latest developments in vaccines for diseases such as malaria and cervical cancer, people are pushing the frontiers of the disease, and through continued research, investment, and collaboration, millions more lives can be saved today and in the next 50 years.
The study found that for every life saved through immunization, an average of 66 years of complete health was achieved – a total of 10.2 billion years of complete health over the past fifty years.
Thanks to the polio vaccine, more than 20 million people are now able to walk or they would otherwise be paralyzed.
These gains in child survival underscore the importance of protecting immunization progress around the world and accelerating efforts to help the 67 million children who missed one or more vaccines during the pandemic.
© 儿基会/Andriantsoavo
Fifty years of unremitting efforts
The study, released in May 2024 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), is the most comprehensive analysis of the programme's global and regional health impacts over the past five decades. When it was first established in 1974, the Expanded Programme on Immunization focused on protecting all children from six childhood diseases, but today that number has grown to 13 vaccines that are universally recommended throughout the life course and 17 other vaccines that are recommended on a case-by-case basis. Immunization campaigns have enabled smallpox to be eradicated, polio virtually eradicated, and to ensure that more children survive and thrive than ever before.
To increase immunization coverage, UNICEF, one of the world's largest buyers of vaccines, procures more than 2 billion doses of vaccines annually on behalf of countries and partners, reaching nearly half of the world's children. It is also committed to distributing vaccines to the "last mile", ensuring that even remote and underserved communities have access to immunization services.
Kathleen Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, said that thanks to vaccination, more children are now thriving than at any time in history. "This tremendous achievement is a credit to governments, partners, scientists, health workers, civil society, volunteers and parents. We must continue to do so to ensure that every child, everywhere, has access to life-saving immunizations."
In 2000, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, with WHO, UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as core founding members, was established to expand the impact of immunization programmes, help the world's poorest countries increase coverage, benefit from new life-saving vaccines, and expand protection against a growing number of vaccine-preventable diseases. Intensifying efforts in the world's most vulnerable regions can help save more lives and further advance vaccine equity.
Today, the alliance has helped protect an entire generation of children and now offers vaccines that protect against 20 infectious diseases, including the human papillomavirus vaccine and vaccines against measles, cholera, yellow fever, Ebola virus and meningitis outbreaks.
© UNICEF/Clark
Saving millions of people is 'within human reach'
The Global Immunization Initiative shows that humanity can do what it can when a wide range of stakeholders, including heads of state, regional and global health agencies, scientists, philanthropic institutions, aid agencies, businesses and communities, work together.
Today, WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and the Melinda Gates Foundation launched the joint initiative "Human Possible" to mark the annual World Immunization Week, which takes place from 24 to 30 April 2024.
This global initiative calls on world leaders to advocate, support and fund vaccines and immunization programs that deliver these life-saving products, and reaffirm their commitment to public health while celebrating one of humanity's greatest achievements.
The next 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) will need to help not only those unvaccinated children, but also grandparents from the flu, mothers from tetanus, adolescents from the human papillomavirus, and all people from tuberculosis and many other infectious diseases.
Not only do you need to reach unvaccinated children, but you also need to protect grandparents from the flu, mothers from tetanus, adolescents from human papillomavirus, and all people from tuberculosis and many other infectious diseases.