World Immunization Week is celebrated every year in the last week of April. On this day, you can take your child to the nearest pediatric center and get them vaccinated. The idea behind this program is to protect individuals of all ages against infectious diseases. Immunization is an effective process that has saved millions of lives yearly. It is now recognized as one of the most effective health interventions in the world. Yet, there are many around the globe who are still not getting enough access to vaccines. All these individuals are missing out on crucial vaccines.

Some of them even make it into old age without ever being vaccinated.

Vaccination is important for bringing people together and improving their health and wellbeing. When everyone is protected, the battle against diseases becomes more synchronized and effective. It is therefore crucial that each country supports the move to vaccinate every child by having its own national vaccination day.

Currently, WHO is trying to partner with several organizations to boost trust and confidence in vaccines. This will help to increase vaccine acceptance. The organization is also trying to increase investment in vaccines and promote routine immunization programs. These initiatives will help remove barriers to vaccine access.

At the moment, the entire world has its focus on the COVID 19 vaccine. We should, however, not forget that all the other diseases still exist, people need to be vaccinated for them as well. It is crucial to ensure that existing routine vaccinations still carry on. If there was a national immunization week before COVID 19, it should still be observed. There are many diseases that affect children globally, and they have not gone on leave because of the COVID 19 pandemic.

You will also find that there is a lot of circulating misinformation about vaccines. This leads to many children not being vaccinated, and they are left at risk of serious and life-threatening diseases like polio and measles. World Immunization Week seeks to build trust in vaccination and do away with lies and myths. This can only be achieved if more partners join the initiative to raise immunization awareness.

What is the Purpose of Immunization?

Diseases are caused by a lot of factors. Some of them are infectious, meaning they are caused by either virus, fungi, bacteria, or any other causative agents. The diseases that are caused by viruses cannot be cured by antibiotics. Therefore, the best way to limit their impact is to ensure that people don’t get them to begin with. One way to make that possible is through immunization.

When you are immunized, a dead or weakened form of the disease-causing agent is introduced into your system so that the body can learn of its existence and prepare to fight it ahead of time. Consistent immunization will lower the threat of viral diseases and in the future, they will not be as scary as they are now.

There are a lot of examples about how with vaccinations, some diseases have been brought under control. For instance, Polio and Smallpox are not serious threats anymore. The WHO announced that smallpox had been totally wiped out in December 1979. Europe was also declared acquitted from Polio in 2002.

We have already seen some successful examples of immunization bringing some diseases under control. Both smallpox and polio, which were once common in the UK, are not a threat anymore.

Most immunizations are carried out at a pediatric center when children are young. The key benefit of this is that each child who receives a vaccine during the national immunization week will receive the protection they need against some highly dangerous diseases.

Happy Healthy Strong Young Woman in a Medical Protective Mask on Her Face, Showing Biceps on Her Arm

The History of World Immunization Week

The first-ever World Immunization Week was from 21 to 28 April 2012. The fundamental idea behind this week was to raise immunization awareness and let people know about the advantages of vaccination when it comes to saving lives.

Since then a lot of countries have also joined the initiative and they observe the national immunization week.

Below is a summary of why WHO came up with the World Immunization Week initiative:

  • Raise immunization awareness and let people know about the benefits of immunization
  • Increase the coverage of vaccinations and stop disease outbreaks and pandemics.
  • To reach marginalized communities – there are many people living in remote villages and deprived urban settings who otherwise could never access vaccines.
  • To give kids around the world a chance to grow up healthy and enjoy their lives.

What You Can do to Promote World Immunization Week

There is a lot that you can do to promote World Immunization Week without breaking the bank. A lot of what needs to be done is about raising immunization awareness and spreading information. Consider doing some or all of the following to ensure that World Immunization Week gets a positive response from everyone worldwide:

  • If you have a blog or website, you can post a World Immunization Week or National Vaccination Day banner on your home page.
  • You can also use social media posts to disseminate positive messages about immunization. Find out the current hashtags people will be using and attach them to your posts so you have a greater reach.
  • You can promote Instagram stories on the CDC’s Instagram account. Encourage everyone to join in on live events happening throughout the week. A lot of vaccination questions will be answered in detail.
  • If you have questions, you can submit them on the CDC’s Instagram page before or during the event or visit a pediatric center.
  • Draft and print newsletters you can give to your employees, neighbors, and friends on national vaccination day.
  • If you are a writer, you can submit a World Immunization Week article to your local newspaper.
  • If you have an office, or you run a pediatric center, you can set up an immunization education center when people can get pamphlets and information about immunization. There are a lot of free educational materials on the internet that you can download and print.
  • Present about National Immunization Week at any meeting that you attend. You can also encourage others to participate and promote the week in any way they can,

Dealing with Anxiety About Needles

Terrified Woman Scared of Needles

It is quite common to feel anxious whenever you want to get an injection. Many people fear needles, hence they are scared of the national vaccination day. These fears arise from the thought of needles, the substances being injected, and just the overall environment. The following are some tips that can help you better manage your anxiety:

  • Take several deep breaths and try to relax
  • Distract yourself with a phone
  • If it’s a child, they can play with toys. If they are being vaccinated at a pediatric center, they most probably have toys already.
  • Discuss with the child beforehand what’s going to happen
  • Depending on the availability, you can also ask the nurse to use an anesthetic cream before administering the injection
  • Communicate with your doctor on National Vaccination Day and make them aware of your fear of injections and immunization.

For more than two centuries, vaccines have been used to protect us against life-threatening diseases. Because of vaccines, we have managed to deal with diseases like smallpox and polio that would otherwise claim millions of lives yearly.

It’s true that vaccines are not a silver bullet, but they can help us to move towards a world where diseases are not that much of a threat anymore. As vaccines keep advancing, we need to invest more in ensuring that they are accepted and used everywhere in the world. We should also ensure that everyone who needs them gets them on time. Do you agree with us? If you have any additions or questions, feel free to leave a comment below or get in touch with us to find out more about vaccines and World Immunization Day.

REFERENCES

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2287260/ https://www.euro.who.int/ data/assets/pdf_file/0004/329647/ https://www.who.int/health-topics/smallpox#tab=tab_1

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27123992/#:~:text=In%202002%2C%20the%20European%20r egion,has%20maintained%20this%20status%20since.&text=Keywords%3A%20Outbreaks%3B

%20Poliomyelitis%3B%20surveillance,preventable%20diseases%3B%20vaccines%20and%20i mmunisation .

https://polioeradication.org/news-post/first-ever-world-immunization-week/ https://www.afro.who.int/news/national-immunization-days-launched