The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said in the past 50 years, vaccines have saved over 150 million lives, as ordinary people chose to protect themselves, their children and their communities from diseases such as measles, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, and rotavirus.

The WHO, made the disclosure in a statement on Friday as World Immunisation Week, begins, which runs from April 24 to 30.

During the World Immunisation Week, WHO and partners are highlighting the benefits of vaccines at every stage of life, as well as the scientific breakthroughs which led to tried and tested inoculations against contracting malaria, HPV, cholera, dengue, meningitis, RSV, Ebola and mpox.

This year marks the midpoint of Immunisation Agenda 2030, a global push, led by WHO, to ensure that everyone can benefit from life-saving vaccines.

A report to assess the progress made so far found that, despite unprecedented challenges – including the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical instability, climate disruption and limited financing – immunisation efforts over the past five years had averted millions of deaths.

However, most of the targets remain off track, with persistent gaps in routine coverage, equity and outbreak prevention across many countries.

The UN health agency calls for renewed commitments to build more sustainable national programmes, stronger integration with primary healthcare, and more prioritisation on the part of global health agencies and partners.

On Friday, the WHO, along with the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) and the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), announced that The Big Catch-up, an historic international effort to address vaccination declines driven largely by the COVID-19 pandemic, reached an estimated 18.3 million children aged one to five across 36 countries, since its launch in 2023.

The campaign also provided 23 million doses of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) to unvaccinated and undervaccinated children, an essential intervention towards polio eradication. 

The initiative is predicted to be on track to meet its target of vaccinating at least 21 million children. (NAN)