10 facts on immunization

Updated March 2018

There is arguably no single preventive health intervention more cost-effective than immunization. Time and again, the international community has endorsed the value of vaccines and immunization to prevent and control a large number of infectious diseases and, increasingly, several chronic diseases that are caused by infectious agents.

Expanding access to immunization is crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Not only do vaccinations prevent the suffering and death associated with infectious diseases such as diarrhoea, measles, pneumonia, polio and whooping cough, they also help enable national priorities like education and economic development to take hold.

The unique value of vaccines was the driving force behind the Decade of Vaccines, an effort launched at the 2010 World Economic Forum and supported by many stakeholders to extend the full benefits of immunization to all by 2020. Governments welcomed the initiative, and 194 member states endorsed the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP), a framework to prevent millions of deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases by 2020, at the Sixty-fifth World Health Assembly in 2012.

GVAP aims to strengthen routine immunization, accelerate control of vaccine-preventable diseases with polio eradication as the first milestone, introduce new vaccines, and spur research and development for the next generation of vaccines and technologies.

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WHO

Immunization currently prevents between 2–3 million deaths every year

Immunization prevents deaths every year in all age groups from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), and measles. It is one of the most successful and cost-effective public health interventions. An additional 1.5 million deaths could be avoided, however, if global vaccination coverage improves.

WHO

More children are being immunized worldwide than ever before

During 2016, an estimated 116.5 million (about 86%) children under the age of one year worldwide received three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine. These children are protected against infectious diseases that can cause serious illness or disability, and be fatal.

American Red Cross/D. Cima

An estimated 19.5 million children under the age of one year did not receive DTP3 vaccine

Around 60% of these children live in ten countries: Angola, Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa.

WHO/Sesai

Important progress has been made in vaccine research and development

A new vaccine against dengue has been licensed in several countries, and the first vaccine to protect children against malaria will be piloted in three African countries in 2018. There has also been an increase in the number of vaccines in the clinical development pipeline.

WHO/R. Barry

Meningitis A epidemics nearly eliminated in Africa through immunization

Meningitis A is an infection that can cause severe brain damage and is often deadly. Since the introduction of the meningitis A vaccine in Africa in December 2010, mass vaccination campaigns have led to the control and near elimination of the deadly meningitis A disease in 26 African “meningitis belt” countries. The vaccine is now being integrated into routine national immunization programmes.

Measles & Rubella Initiative

Global measles mortality has declined by 84%

Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus, which usually results in a high fever and rash, and can lead to blindness, encephalitis or death. Global measles deaths have decreased by 84% from an estimated 550 000 deaths in 2000 to 89 780 in 2016. Accelerated immunization activities have had a major impact on reducing measles deaths.

WHO

Region of the Americas declared free of measles

In 2016, the WHO Region of the Americas became the first in the world to have eliminated measles. This achievement culminates a 22-year effort involving mass vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella throughout the Americas.

WHO/J. Swan

The world is closer than ever to eradicating polio

In 2016, fewer children were paralysed by polio than in any other year, with the virus restricted to a few areas of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Two of the three strains of wild polio seem to be eliminated, India and the entire WHO South-East Asia Region have been declared polio-free, and outbreaks that started in 2013-2014 in the Middle East and Horn of Africa have been stopped.

WHO/D. Rodriguez

Maternal and neonatal tetanus eliminated in the WHO Regions of the Americas and South-East Asia

In 2016, the WHO South-East Asia Region has eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus. Home to nearly one-fourth of the global population, the Region is the second among six WHO Regions to achieve maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination, after the European Region. And in 2017, the Region of the Americas became the third region to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus. Tetanus cannot be fully eradicated because the bacterium that causes the disease exists throughout the environment in soil and the faeces of many different animals. The disease that can be prevented through hygienic birth practices and immunization.

Measles & Rubella Initiative

Vaccines serve as a frontline defence against antimicrobial resistance

Vaccines can help limit the spread of antibiotic resistance. The global increase in disease caused by drug-resistant bacteria, due to overuse and misuse of antibiotics, is a major public health concern. Vaccinating humans and animals is a very effective way to stop them from getting infected and thereby preventing the need for antibiotics. Making better use of existing vaccines and developing new vaccines are important ways to tackle antibiotic resistance and reduce preventable illness and deaths.

Related links

• Global Vaccine Action Plan 2011-2020
• Immunization coverage fact sheet
• Q&A; on immunization and vaccine safety
• Q&A; on why is vaccination important for addressing antibiotic resistance?
• More on WHO's work on immunization