Latest news with #ExpandedProgrammeonImmunization
Business Recorder
02-05-2025
- Health
- Business Recorder
World Immunization Week 2025 concludes
ISLAMABAD: The World Immunization Week 2025 celebrated countrywide from April 24-30 has concluded on a note that vaccines are not just doses of protection; they are promises of a healthier, brighter future and annually save millions of lives globally. The World Immunization Week 2025 in Pakistan was organised by the Dopasi Foundation, in collaboration with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, and the Federal Directorate of Immunization (FDI). Kinzul Eman, chief executive officer (CEO) of Dopasi Foundation on the conclusion of the event said, 'too many children remain unprotected due to gaps in access and awareness. That's what we're working to change.' Under the theme "Immunization for All is Humanly Possible," the campaign featured dynamic, community-driven activities. In Islamabad, Dopasi introduced Tikoo Buddy, a vaccination mascot, who engaged families at the Run and Ride Event in F-9 Park with educational materials and fun interactions aimed at dispelling myths and promoting routine immunisation. In Balochistan, efforts intensified with a Rickshaw Awareness Drive, city-wide branding, and a series of advocacy events involving community leaders and health workers. These activities brought immunisation messages directly to the public in culturally familiar formats and emphasised the importance of vaccinating children under five. 'Vaccines are not just doses of protection; they are promises of a healthier, brighter future,' said Kinzul Eman, CEO of Dopasi Foundation. 'Too many children remain unprotected due to gaps in access and awareness. That's what we're working to change.' Thanks to strong public-private partnerships, including Gavi and UNICEF, vaccines that protect against measles, polio, HPV, tetanus, influenza, malaria, and RSV are being provided free of cost to the Government of Pakistan — despite being expensive to procure. These efforts are delivered through the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) and supported by local partners like Dopasi Foundation. While progress is evident, challenges such as vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, and healthcare inequities remain. In 2023, over 22 million children worldwide missed their first measles shot, underscoring the urgency of continued outreach. According to senior officials of the Federal Directorate of Immunization, since the launch of Pakistan's Expanded Programme on Immunization in 1978 in partnership with WHO, millions have been protected from deadly diseases. Globally, vaccines have saved 154 million lives over the past 50 years, an average of 3 million lives annually. Despite progress, challenges remain as In 2024, Pakistan aimed to vaccinate 7.3 million infants, but 1.2 million did not receive a single dose of the measles vaccine due to incomplete schedules, raising the risk of outbreaks. Regional disparities in vaccination coverage persist, with nearly half of children in Balochistan either under or partially immunized. Pakistan also remains one of only two countries where polio is still endemic. Vaccination is not just a health intervention, it is an investment in a healthier and more prosperous future. The EPI is committed to ensuring that every individual, regardless of location, has access to life-saving vaccines. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Zawya
30-04-2025
- Health
- Zawya
Mali: Greater protection for children against malaria
Fatoumata, aged 2 years and 4 months and wearing one of her most beautiful dresses, attended an event of great importance for her health on Friday morning, as her mother Niemba explains: 'I was on my way to the community health centre for my child's routine vaccination; from there, I was directed to the site of the ceremony where a new vaccine protecting children against malaria was being launched.' The event took place on World Malaria Day, 25 April, in Kalaban-Coro, 11 km from Bamako, and was attended by many mothers and their children. This was an opportunity to introduce the malaria vaccine, making Mali the 20th African country to incorporate it into its Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). More importantly, Mali became the first country in the world to use a hybrid vaccination approach to combat malaria. This approach combines two ways of administering the vaccine: children aged between 5 and 36 months receive the first three doses according to age, while the fourth and fifth doses are administered seasonally before the peak malaria transmission season in May or June. This maximizes protection for children and has been received with great relief at national level. 'The introduction of the malaria vaccine is highly significant for Mali. Moreover, this new approach, which synchronizes the period of greatest vaccine protection with the period when the risk of malaria is highest, optimizes the effectiveness of the vaccine in a country like ours, where transmission of the disease occurs in specific seasons,' says Dr Ibrahima Diarra, Director General of the National Immunization Centre. Children under the age of 5 are especially vulnerable to malaria, as they have not yet built immunity through years of exposure. Mali is among the 11 countries with the highest malaria burden, contributing 3% of the global malaria burden. In 2023, the incidence of malaria was 273%, with a mortality rate of 5.8 per 100 000 people in the general population. This situation is particularly concerning given that Mali is also among the eight countries where malaria cases rose significantly between 2019 and 2023, with an increase of 1.4 million cases. Malaria transmission in Mali is seasonal, with most cases occurring between July and December. The hybrid approach has been studied in clinical trials in Mali, showing that seasonal administration of the RTS,S vaccine, combined with seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) – a preventive treatment given monthly during the rainy season – offers superior protection to each of the interventions used in isolation. Both the RTS,S and R21 vaccines have been prequalified and recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the prevention of malaria in children. These safe and effective vaccines target the deadliest and most widespread malaria parasite in Africa. According to Dr Patrick Kabore, WHO Representative in Mali, 'the malaria vaccine is bringing great relief to communities and to the health system in general'. 'We will continue to support this momentum, particularly by backing the national programme to combat and eliminate this disease, which often has severe consequences for the most vulnerable,' he said. The launch of the malaria vaccine complements other existing preventive measures, such as the use of insecticide-treated bed nets, intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy, indoor insecticide spraying and community awareness campaigns in favour of the vaccine and to combat misinformation. With support from partners such as Gavi and UNICEF, the R21/Matrix-M vaccine will initially be rolled out in 19 priority districts across five regions of the country: Kayes, Koulikoro, Mopti, Ségou and Sikasso. In Kalaban-Coro, Niemba was happy that her little Fatoumata was one of the first children to receive the vaccine: 'My daughter has already been sick with malaria in the past. We live in a neighborhood that isn't very clean, and our children suffer a lot from this disease. This initiative is a great relief for us, because if our child is ill, the whole family suffers, not to mention the expense involved.' Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO) - Mali.
New Indian Express
25-04-2025
- Health
- New Indian Express
More than two million infants remain completely unvaccinated in the Southeast Asia region: WHO
NEW DELHI: More than two million infants remain completely unvaccinated in the Southeast Asia region, and approximately 6.5 lakh do not receive all the recommended vaccines, the WHO said on April 25. On the occasion of World Immunisation Week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in 59 years, vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives. 'What started in 1974 as the Expanded Programme on Immunization focused on six childhood illnesses and has today evolved to thirteen universally recommended vaccines across the life course. In these 50 years, vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives – a remarkable 6 lives saved each minute, every day, for five decades,' Saima Wazed, Regional Director for WHO South-East Asia Region, said. 'More children now live to see their first birthday than at any other time in human history, and the measles vaccine alone accounts for 60 per cent of those lives saved. Immunisation campaigns have enabled us to eradicate smallpox, eliminate polio in our South-East Asia Region, and bring neonatal and maternal tetanus down to extremely low levels,' she added. It is clear that vaccines are, undoubtedly, one of humanity's greatest achievements, she stressed. She said in the region, which includes India, over forty million pregnant women and thirty-seven million newborns are vaccinated annually. 'We are also a global leader in vaccine production, with 46 per cent of the world's supply. These achievements are significant, but we have much more to do. More than two million infants remain completely unvaccinated in our region, and approximately 650,000 do not receive all the recommended vaccines. Covid-19 also saw progress on immunisation stall, resulting in the need for continued catch-up vaccination today. This is evident in the diphtheria and measles outbreaks that have unfortunately started occurring,' she said. Highlighting that the recent changes in donor budgets in global health has put a severe strain on immunisation programmes everywhere, and have also affected disease surveillance, laboratory networks and outbreak response capacities, she said the confluence of these could lead to tragic outcomes. '..We urge national governments to boost their EPI investments to ensure the long-term sustainability of immunisation,' she said. 'We are at a crossroads. The hard-won gains in stamping out vaccine-preventable diseases are in jeopardy. We must choose the path of collaborative action, towards hope and health. In walking this path, we must strengthen health systems, address vaccine hesitancy, enhance surveillance, and ensure sustainable financing,' she added. 'The only way forward is together -- governments, health organisations, communities, and individuals -- to protect all the progress we've made, and continue toward a world where no one suffers from a disease that could have been prevented by vaccination,' she said. On World Immunisation Week, she appealed to them to join in spreading the message that vaccines are safe, vaccines save lives, and immunization for all is essential. 'To do this would be to protect humanity's greatest achievement -- vaccines -- and protect humanity's greatest treasure -- our children,' she added. World Immunization Week, marked annually in the last week of April, promotes the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. The goal of World Immunisation Week is for more people -- and their communities -- to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases and the theme this year is 'Immunisation for all is humanly possible.'
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
As more parents abstain from vaccinations, children from low-income households may pay the price
For many American children, it's a rite of passage: Visit the pediatrician for a routine checkup, get a quick jab in the thigh or upper arm, and go home with a brightly colored bandage, a lollipop, and lifelong protection against a dangerous and deadly disease. Vaccines, one of the most important public health advances of the 21st century, have nearly eradicated many diseases, saving millions of lives. Yet, in recent years, a dip in immunization rates—coupled with the proliferation of vaccine misinformation—has unleashed new debates about this critical public health measure. Until recently, immunization rates have trended upward since their invention. Mid-century innovations were pivotal in developing vaccines: A combined vaccination for tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough) was rolled out in 1948, followed by the polio vaccine in 1955. A vaccine for measles was first approved for public use in 1963. By 1971, it was combined with those for mumps and rubella to create the MMR vaccination. Immunization advances dramatically lowered child mortality rates, with infant deaths decreasing by 40% worldwide over the past 50 years, according to a 2024 World Health Organization report. That's an estimated 101 million infant lives saved. "Vaccines are among the most powerful inventions in history, making once-feared diseases preventable," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. It took more than just the invention of vaccines to see results, though. Public health campaigns and funding initiatives helped raise awareness about their importance, which increased vaccine accessibility. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed the Vaccination Assistance Act, designating government funds to ensure children under 5 received vaccines regardless of their family's income. In 1974, WHO launched the Expanded Programme on Immunization to ensure children across the globe have equal access to vaccinations. Public health campaigns about vaccines were often created in response to crises. In the late 1980s, a measles outbreak prompted a national public health campaign to bring series 9 vaccines to public attention. Referring to the nine immunizations received by age 2 at the time, the campaign signs featured a cute baby and read, "We can think of 9 good reasons to vaccinate on time, but you need only one." Despite substantial evidence backing the safety and efficacy of immunizations, protests against them date back to mid-19th-century England, when the British government mandated smallpox vaccinations. Objections varied over time. Some expressed concerns that the government should not have control over their bodies; others said vaccines conflict with their religious beliefs or expressed fears about their safety. In November 2024, vaccine backlash again entered the public discourse when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was nominated and later confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary. Taking a position in direct contrast to that of his late uncle, Kennedy has been vocal in his skepticism of vaccines. He has perpetuated false claims that vaccines are linked to autism—a theory from a 1998 study that was retracted for inaccuracy soon after publication. In 2019, on a trip to Samoa, Kennedy met with locals who were also against vaccinations. Just months after this visit, an outbreak of measles there killed 83 people, most of whom were infants and children. The Samoa outbreak is not unlike past outbreaks in the U.S., where gaps persist in vaccination rates among children who live below the federal poverty level. Coverage for childhood vaccines was also lower among the uninsured or those covered by Medicaid, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Northwell Health partnered with Stacker to explore how socioeconomic factors influence vaccination rates, using data from the CDC. Keep reading to learn more about the challenges children face in getting vaccinated and how these difficulties could be exacerbated in the coming years. Current guidelines recommend that all children receive vaccinations to protect against 15 major illnesses by age 24 months. The CDC tracks most of these through the completion of the combined 7-vaccine series, a grouping of vaccines administered during the first two years of life that covers everything from polio and measles to hepatitis B. Although no states mandate vaccinations, children are required to receive their immunizations to attend public schools and many daycare centers. Children living below the poverty line receive the 7-vaccine series at a significantly lower rate than those who live above the poverty line, according to CDC data. This disparity has increased in recent years. While approximately 68% of all U.S. children born in 2020 received these critical vaccines by age 2, the completion rate was just over 56% for children who live below the poverty line—a notable decrease from the nearly 61% completion rate of those living below the poverty line who were born just five years earlier. Vaccine completion rates are also higher among non-Hispanic white children, those with private insurance, and those living in urban areas. Various factors contribute to these disparities, including income and insurance coverage. Those with lower incomes or who lack health insurance may be unable to afford the cost of office visits, even though the cost of vaccines themselves is covered—particularly at the frequency required within the first few years. Babies usually have 10 well visits in the first 24 months of life to monitor growth and administer vaccines on schedule. Practical considerations can add more challenges. Those experiencing poverty tend to have less flexible work schedules, and they may lack transportation or live in more rural areas that are further from doctors' offices. Families living below the federal poverty level also tend to move more frequently, making it difficult to keep up with a paper trail of their vaccination history. Furthermore, medical professionals' lack of cultural or language fluency to reach wider communities, and the health care system's lasting legacy of negative and exploitative practices have led to a deep-seated mistrust of doctors in some communities. The proliferation of incorrect or misleading information about vaccine safety and efficacy may further compound these practical barriers. Recent drops in vaccinations are, in part, attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which halted and delayed routine doctor visits. Some children missed regularly scheduled vaccinations or received them late. Completion rates for the combined 7-vaccine series fell from approximately 70% for all children born between 2018 and 2019 to about 67% for kids born between 2020 and 2021. In 1994, Congress created the Vaccines for Children program following a series of measles outbreaks in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The VFC program provides free vaccinations to all children aged 18 and under who are uninsured, underinsured, eligible for Medicaid, or Alaska Native or American Indian. Prior to this, vaccines were covered only by insurance companies—or at a high out-of-pocket cost for those without health insurance. Thanks to the VFC, over half of U.S. children born in 2020 qualified for free vaccinations. Although the CDC provides funding for over 60 programs that put the VFC program into action across the country, vaccination rates for those eligible remain much lower than the overall population—and this discrepancy grows each year. For those born in 2020, just 3 in 5 (61%) VFC-eligible children completed their 7-vaccine series, compared to 3 in 4 of those ineligible for the program. VFC-eligible kids face difficulties in completing vaccines that require multiple doses, as well as doses scheduled after the first year. Despite ongoing challenges, the program has proven vital roughly 30 years since its launch. The CDC estimates vaccines have prevented 508 million illnesses between 1994 and 2023—saving not only lives but also out-of-pocket costs for parents and trillions of dollars in future health care costs by stopping the spread of serious diseases. This could all change in the coming years, though. Concern in the medical community in response to Kennedy's plans for reforming the U.S. health care system. Although Kennedy denies intentions to completely abolish vaccinations, he has a clear history of speaking out against them, even saying there is "no vaccine that's safe and effective." Concern about vaccine misinformation has ratcheted up since March 2025, when the ongoing measles outbreak began in West Texas and spread to neighboring New Mexico. As of early April 2025, the highly contagious diseases has already climbed to highest number of measles infections seen in a single year since 2019, during a wave of cases. The current outbreak has also claimed the lives of two children. Kennedy has been vocal about cutting CDC funding, which oversees programs like the VFC. Though Kennedy has said he won't "take away anybody's vaccines," he has advocated for revoking approval for parts of the combined 7-vaccine series, arguing that further studies are needed, as well as increased parental choice. Although the head of HHS cannot directly implement these plans, the role has the authority to appoint or replace members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The head of the HHS role could also influence Kennedy to cut or reduce other initiatives, like the Section 317 program, which provides federal vaccine grants to state and local health departments. Immunization rates have been dropping prior to Kennedy's rise on the political stage, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic and was fueled by the spread of misinformation. Although U.S. public schools require certain vaccinations before children can attend, each state allows medical exemptions, and most allow exemptions for religious or personal beliefs. While the share of kindergarteners with medical exemptions has remained steady at about 0.2%, the share of children with nonmedical exemptions has shot up. During the 2023-2024 school year, an average of 4% of kindergarteners' families across the U.S. requested exemptions—more than double the 2011-2012 school year. The highest numbers were seen in Western states like Idaho, Oregon, and Alaska, with a rate well above average at 14.3%. Mississippi, California, New York, and West Virginia had the lowest exemption rates in the nation, with each under 1%. Experts attribute rising exemptions to the surge of misinformation around vaccine safety and efficacy, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a 2024 peer-reviewed study headed by a Columbia University researcher, negative messaging on social media and distrust in institutions have caused vaccine hesitancy at a difficult rate to mitigate. Coupled with political polarization and the spread of misinformation through mass media, the potential impact on the understanding of vaccines is significant. While an average of 4% may seem like a small portion of the population, childhood vaccines are a public health measure. If enough kids in a particular school or community are vaccinated, the group can benefit from herd immunity, which helps prevent those who are unvaccinated from contracting a disease. However, viruses like measles are so easily transmitted that 95% of a community must be immunized to prevent the spread of disease. When children with vaccine exemptions cluster—often in more affluent areas, around private schools—this creates favorable conditions for an outbreak. Evidence of the effects of decreased vaccination rates was seen toward the end of 2024, with cases of measles and whooping cough reaching the highest levels in five years. At least 3 in 4 parents surveyed support school vaccine requirements; however, nearly 2 in 5 (38%) parents seeking exemptions did so based on personal or philosophical beliefs, not medical reasons. A 2024 parent survey conducted by the CDC showed that while about a third of parents believed unvaccinated children should be able to attend school, over half agreed those children should stay home during an outbreak. Contracting these illnesses can significantly impact not only a child's physical health but also lead to them missing school and falling behind academically or socially. Continued intervention is necessary to ensure the safety of all children, especially higher-risk populations like those experiencing poverty. With the resurgence of diseases once under control or even eliminated (meaning there was no new spread of disease over a 12-month period), some states have become more stringent about exemptions. New York disallowed religious exemptions following disease outbreaks, and California implemented a policy that requires parents seeking vaccine exemption to first be educated on the risks. While this hasn't produced much change among private school students, those living below the poverty level have shown a greater decrease in exemptions. It's important to note the distinction between families who don't complete their childhood vaccinations due to systemic barriers and those who abstain by choice. Ultimately, however, they'll face the same consequences. Any unvaccinated child will be more susceptible to the spread of disease and its painful and, in some cases, debilitating consequences. Yet it's the children below the poverty line—uninsured, underinsured, and often facing obstacles merely to get to the pediatrician for their MMR shot—who will inevitably pay a greater price. Data reporting by Tory Lysik. Story editing by Alizah Salario. Copy editing by Janina Lawrence. Photo selection by Ania Antecka. This story was produced by Northwell Health and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker.
Express Tribune
20-03-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
Measles outbreak claims 17 lives
The measles epidemic in Sindh has reached alarming levels, resulting in the death of 17 children and affecting over 1,100 others in the past two months. Health experts say that parental negligence and the lack of vaccinations are significant factors contributing to the surge in rising cases of measles. According to the Health Department, from January 1 to March 8, over 1,100 children were reported to have measles, with 17 fatalities attributed to complications from the disease. In Karachi alone, there were 550 reported cases. Additionally, Khairpur recorded 10 deaths, the east district reported five, while Sukkur and Jacobabad reported one case each. Medical experts stress that the primary cause of the measles outbreak is the failure of parents to vaccinate their children. Measles is a highly contagious viral illness characterised by symptoms such as fever, cough, swollen eyes, and rashes. In unvaccinated children, measles can lead to severe complications, including pneumonia, brain swelling, and other life-threatening infections. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that most deaths related to measles are caused by complications from pneumonia. The Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) offers free vaccines to children at nine and fifteen months of age, which are 100% effective against the virus.
