2023-04-24 17:22:11
World Vaccination Week, which begins on Monday April 24, aims to raise public awareness of the challenges of vaccines in the fight against diseases, particularly childhood diseases.
Created by the WHO in 2005, it aims to encourage vaccination throughout the world, while the rate of people vaccinated on a global scale is at its lowest for thirty years. In question, the Covid-19 pandemic which has exacerbated anti-vaccine sentiment and made vaccination operations difficult around the world.
► 81%: the rate of total vaccination coverage in the world in 2021
In 2021, global coverage of the three most administered vaccines was 81%. Protecting against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, the vaccination rate has dropped in recent years: it was 86% in 2019. “An estimated 25 million children under the age of one have not received basic vaccines, which is the highest figure since 2009,” WHO reports.
Vaccines against hepatitis B and diseases causing meningitis and pneumonia are among the most administered vaccines with an average rate of 80%.
► Nearly 70% of the world’s population has received a first dose against covid-19
More than 13 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered since December 2020 and 70% of the world’s population has received at least the first dose. On the other hand, this figure drops to only 29.5% of the population in low-income countries due to difficulty in accessing healthcare.
In France, approximately 54 million people received their first dose, i.e. more than 80% of the French population. In Europe, Portugal is the first vaccinated country (95%) while France is in seventh place in the ranking.
► More than 4 million lives saved each year
Unicef estimates that 4.4 million lives are saved each year thanks to vaccination. With the establishment of a “European program for vaccination by 2030”, by the WHO, this figure could rise to 5.8 million lives saved.
The vaccine against measles, a deadly disease for children, has alone reduced the number of deaths per year from 2.6 million in the 1960s to 128,000 in 2021.
As for Covid-19, nearly 20 million deaths would have been avoided thanks to vaccination, reports a WHO study released in July 2022.
► 1980: total eradication of smallpox
It is one of the greatest successes of vaccination. On May 8, 1980, the WHO declared smallpox a completely eradicated disease in the world, the last case dating back to 1977. Responsible for more than 300 million deaths, smallpox was eliminated thanks to a massive and global vaccination campaign after the Second World War.
Other vaccines have also made it possible to greatly reduce the number of deaths in the world, such as that against measles. In the 20th century, it was responsible for more than 500,000 deaths each year in the United States, compared to 9 in 2021. Deaths from whooping cough, rubella and mumps have also dropped drastically since vaccination campaigns.
► One in four people do not think childhood vaccination is important
Three out of four people in the world consider childhood vaccination to be important, reports UNICEF. Falling confidence in most countries except China, India and Mexico. In France, the percentage remains close to the world average. 75% of French people think that vaccination is important.
Worldwide, 67 million children have not received all their routine vaccines, including 48 million who would have received none between 2019 and 2021, points out a UNICEF report on the vaccination situation of children in the world. world published on April 20, 2023.
The Covid-19 pandemic would have reinforced inequalities of access and would be at the origin of the biggest decline in vaccinations in thirty years, since 2008.
#figures #immunization #challenges #world