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Al-Ahram Weekly
15-07-2025
- Health
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Emergency vaccines slash deaths by 60%: Study - Health - Life & Style
A similar number of infections are also believed to have been prevented, while billions of euros have been generated in estimated economic benefit. The Gavi vaccine alliance, which backed the study, said it collaborated with researchers at Burnet Institute in Australia to provide the world's first look at the historical impact of emergency immunization efforts on public health and global health security. 'For the first time, we are able to comprehensively quantify the benefit, in human and economic terms, of deploying vaccines against outbreaks of some of the deadliest infectious diseases,' Gavi chief Sania Nishtar said in a statement. 'This study demonstrates clearly the power of vaccines as a cost-effective countermeasure to the increasing risk the world faces from outbreaks.' The study, published this week in the British Medical Journal Global Health, examined 210 outbreaks of five infectious diseases — cholera, Ebola, measles, meningitis and yellow fever — in 49 lower-income countries between 2000 and 2023. Vaccine roll-outs in these settings had a dramatic impact, with the study showing they reduced both the number of infections and deaths by almost 60 percent across the five diseases. For some of the diseases the effect was far more dramatic. Vaccination was shown to decrease deaths during yellow fever outbreaks by a full 99 percent, and 76 percent for Ebola. At the same time, emergency vaccination significantly reduced the threat of outbreaks expanding. It also estimated that the immunization efforts carried out during the 210 outbreaks generated nearly $32 billion in economic benefits just from averting deaths and years of life lost to disability. That amount was however likely to be a significant underestimate of overall savings, it said, pointing out that it did not take into account outbreak response costs or the social and macro-economic impacts of disruptions created by large outbreaks. The massive Ebola outbreak that hit West Africa in 2014, before the existence of approved vaccines, for instance saw cases pop up worldwide and is estimated to have cost the West African countries alone more than $53 billion. The study comes after the WHO warned in April that outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, meningitis, and yellow fever are on the rise globally amid misinformation and cuts to international aid. Gavi, which helps vaccinate more than half the world's children against infectious diseases, is itself currently trying to secure a fresh round of funding in the face of the global aid cuts and after Washington last month announced it would stop backing the group. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
The Hindu
15-07-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Global vaccine reserves helped avert 5.8 million infections, over 300,000 deaths since 2000: Study
Global stockpiles of vaccines under programmes supported by 'Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance,' helped prevent more than 5.8 million cases and 327,000 deaths from outbreaks in low- and middle-income countries since 2000, according to a new study. The alliance, established in 2000, funds the roll-out and scale-up of new vaccines through routine healthcare systems and preventive campaigns. The findings, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Global Health, highlight life-saving impacts and economic benefits of nearly USD 32 billion due to outbreak response immunisation programmes aimed at containing vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. Importance of population immunity, insurance coverage and aid "For diseases with routine vaccination programs, maintaining high levels of population immunity is vital for preventing large outbreaks," lead author Dominic Delport, a PhD candidate at Burnet Institute, an Australian-based medical research institute and NGO said. "But when outbreaks do occur, a rapid vaccine response typically provides the greatest protective impact for the population at risk -- and the faster the response, the greater the impact," Delport said. The researchers added that with routine vaccination declining and also impacted by cuts to the US' foreign aid, the study highlights the ongoing need for an insurance policy against major outbreaks of diseases like cholera, Ebola and measles. The study analysed 210 outbreaks across 49 low- and middle-income countries that occurred between 2000-2023 for five diseases -- cholera, Ebola, measles, meningitis and yellow fever. Challenges in routine vaccine coverage Globally, routine vaccine coverage has been shown to falter, with a recent study published in The Lancet journal attributing this to persistent inequalities, challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a growth of vaccine misinformation and hesitancy -- factors which increase the risk of vaccine-preventable outbreaks, it said. Low- and middle-income countries have been studied to bear the major brunt of these outbreaks. Senior author Nick Scott, associate professor and head of modelling and biostatistics, Burnet Institute, said the global decline in routine vaccine coverage highlights the value of vaccine stockpiles as insurance against major outbreaks. "Routine vaccine coverage is declining due to many factors including vaccine hesitancy and funding cuts for organisations like USAID and Gavi, and in many places gaps in coverage due to COVID-19 disruptions haven't been filled yet," Scott said. "And as routine coverage declines, the prospect of more major outbreaks means there's a growing need for global vaccine stockpiles," the senior author said. Impact of outbreak immunisation programmes The authors wrote, "Across 210 outbreaks, ORI (outbreak response immunisation) programmes are estimated to have averted 5.81 million cases 327,000 deaths." The team also looked at the impact of outbreak response immunisation programmes in helping control large outbreaks in low- and middle before they became overly disruptive. Larger outbreaks are linked with worse health and economic outcomes, often requiring more disruptive public health measures that involve travel interruptions and school and business closures. "We found here that the presence of the (outbreak response immunisation) consistently resulted in smaller outbreaks (eg, reducing the percentage of measles outbreaks with more than 100,000 cases from 41 per cent to eight per cent)," the authors wrote. "(Outbreak response immunisation) programmes are critical for reducing the health and economic impacts of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases," they wrote.
NDTV
14-07-2025
- Health
- NDTV
Global Vaccine Reserves Helped Prevent 327,000 Deaths Since 2000: Study
New Delhi: Global stockpiles of vaccines under programmes supported by 'Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance,' helped prevent more than 5.8 million cases and 327,000 deaths from outbreaks in low- and middle-income countries since 2000, according to a new study. The alliance, established in 2000, funds the roll-out and scale-up of new vaccines through routine healthcare systems and preventive campaigns. The findings, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Global Health, highlight life-saving impacts and economic benefits of nearly USD 32 billion due to outbreak response immunisation programmes aimed at containing vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. "For diseases with routine vaccination programs, maintaining high levels of population immunity is vital for preventing large outbreaks," lead author Dominic Delport, a PhD candidate at Burnet Institute, an Australian-based medical research institute and NGO said. "But when outbreaks do occur, a rapid vaccine response typically provides the greatest protective impact for the population at risk -- and the faster the response, the greater the impact," Delport said. The researchers added that with routine vaccination declining and also impacted by cuts to the US' foreign aid, the study highlights the ongoing need for an insurance policy against major outbreaks of diseases like cholera, Ebola and measles. The study analysed 210 outbreaks across 49 low- and middle-income countries that occurred between 2000-2023 for five diseases -- cholera, Ebola, measles, meningitis and yellow fever. Globally, routine vaccine coverage has been shown to falter, with a recent study published in The Lancet journal attributing this to persistent inequalities, challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a growth of vaccine misinformation and hesitancy -- factors which increase the risk of vaccine-preventable outbreaks, it said. Low- and middle-income countries have been studied to bear the major brunt of these outbreaks. Senior author Nick Scott, associate professor and head of modelling and biostatistics, Burnet Institute, said the global decline in routine vaccine coverage highlights the value of vaccine stockpiles as insurance against major outbreaks. "Routine vaccine coverage is declining due to many factors including vaccine hesitancy and funding cuts for organisations like USAID and Gavi, and in many places gaps in coverage due to COVID-19 disruptions haven't been filled yet," Scott said. "And as routine coverage declines, the prospect of more major outbreaks means there's a growing need for global vaccine stockpiles," the senior author said. The authors wrote, "Across 210 outbreaks, ORI (outbreak response immunisation) programmes are estimated to have averted 5.81 million cases 327,000 deaths." The team also looked at the impact of outbreak response immunisation programmes in helping control large outbreaks in low- and middle before they became overly disruptive. Larger outbreaks are linked with worse health and economic outcomes, often requiring more disruptive public health measures that involve travel interruptions and school and business closures. "We found here that the presence of the (outbreak response immunisation) consistently resulted in smaller outbreaks (eg, reducing the percentage of measles outbreaks with more than 100,000 cases from 41 per cent to eight per cent)," the authors wrote. "(Outbreak response immunisation) programmes are critical for reducing the health and economic impacts of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases," they wrote.
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Global vaccine reserves helped avert 5.8 million infections, over 300,000 deaths since 2000: Study
New Delhi: Global stockpiles of vaccines under programmes supported by ' Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance ,' helped prevent more than 5.8 million cases and 327,000 deaths from outbreaks in low- and middle-income countries since 2000, according to a new study. The alliance, established in 2000, funds the roll-out and scale-up of new vaccines through routine healthcare systems and preventive campaigns. The findings, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Global Health, highlight life-saving impacts and economic benefits of nearly USD 32 billion due to outbreak response immunisation programmes aimed at containing vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. "For diseases with routine vaccination programs, maintaining high levels of population immunity is vital for preventing large outbreaks," lead author Dominic Delport, a PhD candidate at Burnet Institute, an Australian-based medical research institute and NGO said. "But when outbreaks do occur, a rapid vaccine response typically provides the greatest protective impact for the population at risk -- and the faster the response, the greater the impact," Delport said. The researchers added that with routine vaccination declining and also impacted by cuts to the US' foreign aid, the study highlights the ongoing need for an insurance policy against major outbreaks of diseases like cholera, Ebola and measles. The study analysed 210 outbreaks across 49 low- and middle-income countries that occurred between 2000-2023 for five diseases -- cholera, Ebola, measles, meningitis and yellow fever. Globally, routine vaccine coverage has been shown to falter, with a recent study published in The Lancet journal attributing this to persistent inequalities, challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a growth of vaccine misinformation and hesitancy -- factors which increase the risk of vaccine-preventable outbreaks, it said. Low- and middle-income countries have been studied to bear the major brunt of these outbreaks. Senior author Nick Scott, associate professor and head of modelling and biostatistics, Burnet Institute, said the global decline in routine vaccine coverage highlights the value of vaccine stockpiles as insurance against major outbreaks. "Routine vaccine coverage is declining due to many factors including vaccine hesitancy and funding cuts for organisations like USAID and Gavi , and in many places gaps in coverage due to COVID-19 disruptions haven't been filled yet," Scott said. "And as routine coverage declines, the prospect of more major outbreaks means there's a growing need for global vaccine stockpiles," the senior author said. The authors wrote, "Across 210 outbreaks, ORI (outbreak response immunisation) programmes are estimated to have averted 5.81 million cases 327,000 deaths." The team also looked at the impact of outbreak response immunisation programmes in helping control large outbreaks in low- and middle before they became overly disruptive. Larger outbreaks are linked with worse health and economic outcomes, often requiring more disruptive public health measures that involve travel interruptions and school and business closures. "We found here that the presence of the (outbreak response immunisation) consistently resulted in smaller outbreaks (eg, reducing the percentage of measles outbreaks with more than 100,000 cases from 41 per cent to eight per cent)," the authors wrote. "(Outbreak response immunisation) programmes are critical for reducing the health and economic impacts of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases," they wrote.
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Emergency vaccines slash deaths by 60%
Emergency vaccination during outbreaks of diseases like cholera, Ebola and measles have over the past quarter-century reduced deaths from such illnesses by nearly 60%, according to a new study. A similar number of infections are also believed to have been prevented, while billions of euros have been generated in estimated economic benefit. The Gavi vaccine alliance , which backed the study, said it collaborated with researchers at Burnet Institute in Australia to provide the world's first look at the historical impact of emergency immunisation efforts on public health and global health security. "For the first time, we are able to comprehensively quantify the benefit, in human and economic terms, of deploying vaccines against outbreaks of some of the deadliest infectious diseases ," Gavi chief Sania Nishtar said in a statement. The study, published this week in the British Medical Journal Global Health, examined 210 outbreaks of five infectious diseases - cholera, Ebola, measles, meningitis and yellow fever - in 49 lower-income countries between 2000 and 2023. Vaccine roll-outs in these settings had a dramatic impact, with the study showing they reduced both the number of infections and deaths by almost 60% across five diseases.
