WHO Urges Vaccine Access For Children and Cervical Cancer Prevention For Girls

New Delhi: The World Health Organization today urged countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region to speed up efforts to ensure all children receive life-saving vaccines through the childhood immunization program, with a special focus on those who have missed doses, and to protect all adolescent girls from cervical cancer.

“We should aim for a ‘big catch-up’ to vaccinate all zero dose and partially vaccinated children, and restore immunization progress lost during the pandemic; protect all adolescent girls from cervical cancer and accelerate efforts to eliminate Measles and Rubella from WHO South-East Asia by 2026,” said Ms Saima Wazed, Regional Director WHO South-East Asia, in her inaugural address to the 15th Meeting of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group (SEAR-ITAG).

The Regional Director acknowledged and thanked all experts, national programme managers, immunization champions, partners including the vaccinators and community workers, and the communities themselves, on expanded immunization programme completing 50 years this year.

“We can proudly say, in the last 50 years, together, immunization programmes have helped hundreds of millions of people in our Region live healthier, longer, more productive, and prosperous lives,” the Regional Director said.

“Today, South-East Asia Region continues to be free of wild polio virus transmission and has maintained elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus as a public health problem. Five countries have eliminated measles and rubella, and six have controlled hepatitis B through immunization. Seven countries consistently reach over 90% of children with three doses of diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DTP3) vaccines,” she said.

However, the Region missed the target to eliminate measles and rubella by 2023. The WHO/UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage data released last month shows slow progress and no meaningful change in childhood immunization coverage last year compared to 2022, and coverage is yet to be restored to the pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

“Nearly 2.7 million children in our Region did not get any vaccine and another 0.6 million children were partially vaccinated in 2023. We need to understand where and why these children were missed and prioritize reaching them as soon as possible. No child should ever fall sick or die of any vaccine preventable disease, when safe and effective vaccines exist to protect them,” Ms Wazed said.

The stagnation in post-pandemic recovery highlights the need to innovate. We need to find locally impactful approaches, and most critically, enhance the political and social leadership that are the basis for intensified actions needed to meet our Regional targets, she said.

One of the priorities in the Regional Director’s Regional Roadmap for Results and Resilience is ‘reaffirming investment in women, girls, adolescents and vulnerable populations’. “Against this, we must ensure all adolescent girls in our Region are protected and get at least one dose of HPV vaccine to protect from cervical cancer”, Ms Wazed said.

Revitalizing immunization programmes, strengthening community-centered health systems, ensuring vaccine supply, and boosting demand through community engagement are critical components of success. Policy and resources should urgently prioritize routine immunization, particularly for measles, and focus on reducing zero-dose and partially vaccinated children.

“The focus must be on tailored approaches, identified in consultation with the affected communities. No matter how challenging or remote the setting is, we will need to find new ways to reach the children most at risk of life-threatening diseases and protect them with vaccines,” the Regional Director said.

Being held in New Delhi from 20-23 August, the SEAR-ITAG provides guidance on setting regional priorities for immunization and offers technical support for strengthening routine immunization services to Member States. Experts, national immunization programme managers, surveillance focal points and partner agencies review progress on immunization coverage, surveillance, and programme issues at this annual meeting.