World Immunity Week and Immunization Agenda 2030
Recently, the United Nations and other agencies have launched Immunization Agenda 2030 (Immunization Agenda -IA 2030) during World Immunization Week.
It is primarily launched by the World Health Organization, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation(GAVI) and UNICEF with the title “A Global Strategy to leave No One Behind”.
This will contribute to achieving the UN’s mandatory Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG-3 i.e., ‘Good Health and Well Being’.
With reference to the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA 2030):
- Its goal is to promote “lifetime immunization”. The CODD-19 epidemic has affected routine vaccination globally.
- According to the WHO, if it is implemented in full, the lives of 50 million people can be saved under IA Of this, 75% would be people from low-income and low-middle income countries.
- It sets out an ambitious, overlapping global vision and strategy for immunization and ‘vaccination decade 2021-2030’.
- It aims to achieve the goals of Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) that were to be met earlier as part of the global ‘Immunization Decade 2011–2020 strategy’.
- This vaccination fully contributes to stronger primary health care and the attainment of universal health coverage. It is based on a conceptual framework of seven strategic priorities
The seven priorities of IA 2030 are as follows:
- Universal Health Coverage
- Commitment and Demand
- Coverage and Equity
- Outbreaks and Emergencies
- Life Course and Integration
- Supply and Sustainability
- Research and Innovation
This is underlined by four main principles:
- It keeps people at the center.
- Itis led by countries.
- Implemented through extensive partnerships.
- Operates by data.
Goals of IA 2030:
- As part of this new vaccination program, global agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and others have set a goal of avoiding 50 million vaccine-preventive infections this decade.
- Reduce the number of children with zero-dose by 50%. Zero-dose children are those who have not received any vaccine through vaccination programs.
- Also achieving 90% coverage for essential vaccines given in childhood and adolescence.
- The goal of UN agencies is to ensure, through IA2030, whether the benefits of vaccination are shared between countries and equally.
India’s initiative on vaccination:
- Recently, the Intensified Mission Indra dhanush (IMI -0) scheme has been launched to cover children and pregnant women who have missed regular vaccinations during the COVID-19 epidemic.
- The vaccination program in India was introduced as an Immunization Program (EPI) in 1978 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. In 1985, the program was modified as the ‘Universal Immunization Program (UIP)’.
- India is also a major supplier of COVAX, India has also started a ‘Vaccine Friendship’ campaign to supply Covid Vaccine to various countries.
World immunization week
World Immunity Week is celebrated every year in the last week of April. It aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages from disease.
Vaccination
- Vaccination refers to the process by which people are protected from disease caused by infection with microorganisms (formally pathogens).
- Vaccination is a very important for global health and development, saving millions of lives every year.
- In January 2021, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, was nominated as a member of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization –GAVI Board for Vaccine and Vaccination.
Source – The Hindu
