World Health Organization World Immunization Week 2022: Statement by Ready2Respond

DECATUR, Ga., April 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "Long Life for All" is a fitting theme for World Immunization Week this year, celebrated during the last week of April. In one short phrase, it points up one of the most monumental tragedies that COVID-19 continues to reveal: Wide gaps in vaccine access and deployment amid all regions of the world. These gaps in turn reflect unacceptable inequities embedded in countless areas of healthcare service delivery systems worldwide.

This unprecedented moment in history is also marked by the advances of a myriad of new COVID-19 vaccine technologies, development of which is fueled by a massive inflow of funding. In time, these innovative breakthroughs should be able to help us to anticipate and effectively manage the next respiratory virus crisis of the 21st century, whenever it may strike.

Real hope is in the offing.

Today, though, inequities in vaccine access are slowing global recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In no uncertain terms, we are now reminded that pandemic threats evolve in their trajectories based on how well countries are prepared to respond. Developing vaccines that reduce morbidity, mortality and economic loss, and then rapidly deploying them to every corner of the world is the greatest challenge of all.

Our collective survival depends on how effectively we meet that challenge.

As we look forward to the time when each nation will be in a state of reduced COVID-19 circulation, we must remind ourselves that influenza, whether seasonal or pandemic, remains a constant threat. By relaxing social restrictions such as masking and physical distancing – measures once necessary to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 – we are undoubtedly creating opportunities for human influenza viruses to surge again. A new catalogue of risks for public health will ensue. Several epidemic scenarios could occur, the most concerning being an influenza pandemic as severe as the one in 1918 which killed, proportionally, more people than COVID-19.

Less than 20% of the world's low- and lower middle-income countries (LMICs) have a national influenza vaccination program, while just 6% of influenza vaccine doses produced annually are distributed to 50% of the world's population. These data illustrate the magnitude of the challenge we face in building seasonal and pandemic vaccine capacity that serves all people in all regions of the world equitably.

The Ready2Respond coalition believes that now is the time to harness the power of influenza vaccination readiness to prepare for the future. Seasonal influenza vaccination continues to offer the world, including low- and lower middle-income countries, a robust blueprint for pandemic preparedness. Indeed, the presence of effective flu vaccination programming in LMICs has been shown to be a useful indicator of a country's ability to rapidly deploy vaccines in the case of a respiratory virus pandemic. It is also time to recognize that influenza is a central part of the global health security conversation and that it must be resourced accordingly.

During World Immunization Week 2022 and beyond, Ready2Respond welcomes and encourages collaboration with partners who want to take action to break down the barriers to influenza vaccine access and support a Long Life for All.

Media Contacts:
Amanda Bolster
[email protected] 

Sheila Burke
Method Health Communications
484-667-6330
[email protected] 

SOURCE Ready2Respond