Global Vaccination summit_ European Commission, WHO join forces to promote benefits of vaccines

The European Commission and the World Health Organization (WHO) are now co-hosting the world’s first Global Vaccination Summit aimed at accelerating the global action to stop the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases, and also to advocate against the spread of vaccine misinformation worldwide.

Vaccination helps to prevent two to three million deaths a year and could prevent a further one and a half million if global vaccination coverage improved. And the summit is an opportunity to address these gaps. The Commission will continue to work with the EU’s Member States in their national efforts and with partners. This is a global challenge that must be tackled together.

According to Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission said that it is inexcusable that in a world as developed as ours, where a number of children dying of diseases that should have been eradicated long ago itself. Worse is that we have the solution in our hands but it is not being put to full use by us.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus the Director-General of the World Health Organization, said after many years of signs of progress, they are at a critical turning point where Measles is resurging. One in ten children

continues to miss out on one or the other essential childhood vaccines.

We must get back on track to save our children. This can be done by ensuring that everyone can benefit from the power of vaccines and if governments and its partners invest in immunization as a right for all. Now is the time to step up efforts to promote & support vaccination around the world as a core part of health for all, said Ghebreyesus.

President Juncker and Dr. Tedros called for an urgent intensification of efforts in order to stop the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. In the past 3 years, in around 7 countries, including 4 in the European region, have lost their measles elimination status.

The new outbreaks are the direct result of gaps in vaccination coverage, including amongst teenagers and adults who were never fully vaccinated. In order to tackle vaccination gaps effectively, the Global Vaccination summit addressed the multiple barriers to vaccination, including rights and its regulations, accessibility, quality, availability, and convenience of vaccination services; its social and cultural norms, values and also support; individual motivations, attitudes, and also knowledge and skills.

Some of the new models and its opportunities for stepping up vaccine development are also on the Global Vaccination Summit agenda along with some ways to ensure that the immunization is a public health priority and also a universal right.

The World Health Organization has declared vaccine hesitancy, including complacency and lack of confidence and convenience, one of 10 threats to global health in 2019. The vaccines are safe and effective and are the foundation of any strong Primary Health Care system.

79 percent of people worldwide agree that vaccines are safe and 84 percent agree that they are very effective, according to the Welcome Global Monitor on how people around the world think and feel about vaccines, science and major health challenges.

The State of Vaccine Confidence in the EU report shows that the vaccine refusal has been increasing in many of the EU member states mainly due to low confidence in the safety as well as the effectiveness of vaccines worldwide. This lack of confidence in vaccines contributes significantly to lower coverage rates of vaccines, which are essential to ensure herd immunity.

In 2019, the reported measles cases have reached the highest numbers seen globally since 2006. An outbreak in measles cases that began in 2018 has continued into 2019. This was with approximately 90,000 cases reported for the first half of the year in the WHO European Region alone and over 3,65,000 worldwide. The half-year figures already exceed each annual total since 2006.

Progresses towards Universal Health Coverage and ultimately Goal three of the Sustainable Development Goals of ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all at all ages are priorities in Europe and around the world.

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