World Immunization Week

World Immunization Week is a health campaign coordinated by the World Health Organisation (WHO)  and celebrated in the last week of April, every year. It aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease.

Immunization saves millions of lives and is widely recognized as one of the world’s most successful and cost-effective health interventions. Yet, there are still nearly 20 million unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children in the world today.

World Immunisation week - April 24 - 30, 2024

Under the banner of ‘Humanly Possible: Immunization for All’, WHO is working with partners to support countries to get back on track to ensure more people are protected from preventable diseases.

The global vaccine drives of the second half of the 20th century are one of humanity’s greatest achievements. Immunization campaigns have enabled us to eradicate smallpox, nearly defeat polio, and ensure more children survive and thrive than ever before.

This year World Immunization Week will celebrate 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) – recognizing our collective efforts to save and improve countless lives from vaccine-preventable diseases and calling on countries to ramp up investments in immunization programmes to protect the next generations. In just 5 decades we went from a world where the death of a child was something many parents feared, to a world where every child –– if vaccinated –– has a chance to survive and thrive.  

Key facts

• Only 25 vaccine introductions other than COVID-19 vaccine were reported in 2021.
• Global coverage dropped from 86% in 2019 to 81% in 2021
• An estimated 25 million children under the age of 1 year did not receive basic vaccines, which is the highest number since 2009.
• The number of girls not vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) increased by 3.5 million, compared to 2019.
• In 2021, the number of completely unvaccinated children increased by 5 million since 2019.

Why immunization matters now more than ever

For over 200 years, vaccines have protected us against diseases that threaten lives and prohibit our development. With their help, we can progress without the burden of diseases like smallpox and polio, which cost humanity hundreds of millions of lives.

Whilst vaccines aren't a silver bullet, they will again help us progress on a path to a world where we can be together again.  Vaccines themselves continue to advance, bringing us closer to a world free from the likes of tuberculosis and cervical cancer, and ending suffering from childhood diseases like tetanus and measles.

In the last few years during the pandemic, progress on immunization slipped. While more than 4 million more children were vaccinated globally in 2022 compared to 2021, there were still 20 million children who missed out on one or more of their vaccines. Growing conflicts, economic downturns, and a rise in vaccine hesitancy are some of the threats to efforts to reach these children. As a result, the world is seeing sudden outbreaks of diphtheria and measles diseases that, until now, we’d had nearly in hand. While global vaccine coverage is good – with 4 out of 5 kids fully covered – we have more to do.     

Vaccines provide everyone a chance at a fulfilling life.

Source : World Health Organisation

Related resources

1. Campaign materials