Each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) uses World Immunisation Week during the last week of April to promote awareness of the countless benefits of vaccines, which are undeniably the world’s most effective and economically sound medical intervention.
The theme of World Immunisation Week 2018—‘Protected Together, #VaccinesWork’—highlights the need to improve paediatric vaccination rates globally, as the WHO estimates they have been stuck at 86% (116.5 million infants) over the past year.
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Despite a coordinated effort to boost coverage rates over the past decade, the WHO states that 19.5 million infants still do not have access to vaccines that protect against life-threatening yet easily preventable diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, and rotavirus.
As depicted in Figure 1 below, approximately 60% of these undervaccinated children reside in only 10 countries (colored pink): Angola, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa.
Figure 1: Map showing countries that account for 60% of world’s undervaccinated children, 2016
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By GlobalDataSource: GlobalData; WHO, 2018. © GlobalData
The WHO and its partners hope to improve vaccination rates in the developing world through targets set by the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP). However, a 2017 status report revealed that progress toward achieving these goals by 2020 is behind schedule.
In developed countries such as the US, remaining immunisation coverage gaps are largely centred on adolescents and adults, who often receive the first dose of a recommended vaccine but then fail to follow up with their healthcare providers.
For example, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that while over 60% of eligible teens received ≥1 dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, only 49% and 37% received ≥2 and ≥3 doses, respectively, in 2016. A similar trend was observed with the adolescent meningitis (MenACWY) vaccine, as only 39% of eligible US teens received the complete two-dose series despite over 80% receiving the first dose.
Overall, GlobalData believes that a strong patient-provider relationship, coupled with public awareness campaigns that tout the benefits of vaccination while simultaneously debunking anti-vaccine beliefs, is essential to bridging these diverse coverage gaps across the developing and developed world.
Related reports
GlobalData (2016). PharmaPoint: Meningococcal Vaccines – Global Drug Forecast and Market Analysis to 2025, May 2016, GDHC115PIDR
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U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention