- Sanofi reiterates its determination to continue to work closely with its partners to ensure children, adults and their communities are protected from preventable diseases by focusing on expanding access to safe vaccines through immunization programs, allowing them to live happier, healthier lives
- With three years of pandemic-related disruptions to vital health services, the world lost 30 years of progress to protect children with routine immunizations
- Catch-up vaccination campaigns to increase vaccination coverage rates (VCR) remain the only primary and direct solution to protect at-risk populations, from children to the elderly, who were deprived of life-saving vaccinations amid COVID pandemic
Beirut, May 24, 2023: Under the theme of “The Big Catch-up”, the World Health Organization (WHO) celebrated World Immunization Week with the aim to highlight the collective action needed to protect people from vaccine-preventable diseases by expanding the number of global health initiatives across different countries and regions.
WHO reports indicate that the aftereffects of the pandemic have sparked a major decline in vaccination coverage rate worldwide, estimating that the world has likely lost 30 years of progress to protect children with routine immunizations. Furthermore, the figures and data provided by the organization, show that 6.5 million children have missed life-saving vaccines against measles between 2021 and 2022, and 4.5 million children did not receive any vaccines at all. And thus, these numbers come to provide a positive, hopeful, and clear impression of why 2023 is seen as global opportunity to catch-up on lost progress in essential immunization and to reach the millions of children who missed out on vaccines.
In light of the WHO’s warnings and other health authorities and institutions regarding the drastic drop in VCR, Sanofi reaffirms its commitment and efforts, along with its healthcare partners, to achieve its vision of achieving a world in which no one suffers or dies from vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio, measles, and invasive meningococcal diseases by promoting and raising awareness about catch-up vaccination to prevent the resurgence of infectious diseases. To this end, the public and private sectors are urged to join their forces and efforts to provide support to communities in the fight against vaccine-preventable diseases. Moreover, as Global health experts and the WHO have warned that the most likely scenario for the next pandemic is a new strain of influenza, Sanofi is also determined to shed light on the critical roles that effective risk communication and management have in ensuring that the re-emergence of infectious diseases such as influenza is recognized. It is needless to say that every little achievement at this point is of great significance, as vaccines can help make a better life possible by constantly improving the way they are distributed through highly efficient immunization programs implemented everywhere for everyone to benefit from their protection.
Dr. Madonna Matar
Head of Lebanese Infectious Diseases Society
Dr. Madonna Matar, Head of Lebanese Infectious Diseases Society, said: “Vaccines save lives, but only if people have access to them. Immunization is a global health and development success story, saving millions of lives every year. Vaccines highly reduce risks of getting a large number of infectious diseases. Let us all work constructively and consistently together to promote the actions required by the global community to make vaccines reachable and accessible to everyone to protect ourselves and those around us.”
Dr. Marianne Majdalani
Head of Lebanese Pediatric society
“Immunization is a right for every child, it is a strong foundation of the primary health care system and an indisputable human right.,” said Dr. Marianne Majdalani, Head of Lebanese Pediatric society. “It is also the best health investment we can make for the benefit of our children”, she added.
Coinciding with World Immunization Week, United Nations bodies and agencies – in particular, the World Health Organization- are working to accelerate rapid progress in countries to get back on track to ensure more people, particularly children, are protected from preventable diseases. At the core of their 2023 Agenda, is the need for action to close the global vaccine gap which consists of three goals: The first would be to achieving a higher vaccination coverage rate (VCR) by working to compensate the millions of children who did not receive their routine vaccinations during the pandemic. The second goals is to is to ensure that routine immunization services reach the same percentage that was recorded back in 2019 (before the outbreak of the epidemic), starting by at least covering children born in 2023. And finally, the third goal would be to strengthen immunization systems and other primary healthcare services.
Childhood vaccines save an estimated 4 million lives worldwide each year, and as a result of the global effort to eradicate polio disease that began in 1988, an estimated 20 million people have been saved from the paralysis. However, despite the remarkable success and significant decrease in the number of cases, the disease is still found in unexpected parts of the world such as the United Kingdom and the United States. And after the “national incident” was declared, warnings were issued confirming that there is no way to ease eradication efforts, until the world is completely polio-free.
Large-scale catch-up immunization campaigns are an immediate solution to protect the children that missed out on their doses in the past few years and must be implemented on an ongoing basis. Providing catch-up vaccination to individuals who have missed doses will contribute to raising the level of immunity in the population, reducing the risk of disease outbreaks, and drastically reducing the doses needed and the cost of outbreak response campaigns. It is also important to note that vaccination is the best way to stay protected against the flu and its potentially serious complications. This is especially true for vulnerable groups.
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