World Immunization Week is an international, annual campaign that promotes the importance of vaccination in saving people’s lives.
Official Week: April 24-30
This week sheds light on the role vaccines play in protecting individuals from all age groups against different fatal diseases.
Key Focus Areas
- Educate individuals on the crucial need for vaccines.
- Emphasize the need for collective and collaborative efforts to advance the use of vaccines.
- Provide governments with adequate resources to create immunization campaigns.
- Safeguard a larger number of individuals and societies against many diseases through vaccines.
- Clarify misconceptions about vaccines and help individuals build trust in them.
- Celebrate the healthcare milestones achieved through vaccinations, such as ending polio and eradicating smallpox.
- Strive to overcome obstacles to provide healthcare around the world with equity.
- Stress the role of vaccines in improving health and well-being globally, in addition to their role in ensuring a healthy future for children.
Top Facts
- Thanks to vaccines, infant mortality worldwide has decreased by more than 50 percent during the last 30 years.
- Vaccines protect people from more than 20 diseases, such as pneumonia, cervical cancer, Ebola, and many others.
- Immunization prevents between 3.5 and 5 million deaths each year from diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough, influenza, and measles.
- 23 million children were not vaccinated in 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19 which put them at risk of contracting diseases like measles and polio. However, “The Big Catch-up” is a new campaign that aims to bridge this gap and increase the number of vaccinated children to restore pre-pandemic vaccination levels.