- The study found that vaccines against 14 diseases directly contributed to reducing infant deaths by 40%. For Africa, the reduction was over 50%.
- The vaccine against measles accounted for 60% of the lives saved due to immunization.
- The polio vaccine enabled over 20 million people to walk today.
The UN health agency stated that this equates to saving six lives every minute of every year over the half-century period.
In a study published in the Lancet, the WHO provided a comprehensive analysis of the impact of 14 vaccines used under the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), which celebrates its 50th anniversary next month.
“Vaccines are among the most powerful inventions in history, making once-feared diseases preventable,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
“Thanks to vaccines, smallpox has been eradicated, polio is on the brink, and with the more recent development of vaccines against diseases like malaria and cervical cancer, we are pushing back the frontiers of disease,” he said.
“With continued research, investment, and collaboration, we can save millions more lives today and in the next 50 years.”
According to the study, immunization saved 101 million lives of infants over the five decades.
“Immunization was the single greatest contribution of any health intervention to ensuring babies not only see their first birthdays but continue leading healthy lives into adulthood,” WHO said.
Over 50 years, vaccines against 14 diseases — diphtheria, Haemophilus influenza type B, hepatitis B, Japanese encephalitis, measles, meningitis A, pertussis, invasive pneumococcal disease, polio, rotavirus, rubella, tetanus, tuberculosis, and yellow fever — directly contributed to reducing infant deaths by 40 percent, the study found.
It stated that for Africa, the reduction was more than 50 percent.
The vaccine against measles — a highly contagious disease caused by a virus that primarily affects children — had the most significant impact.
According to the study, that jab accounted for 60 percent of the lives saved due to immunization.
The polio vaccine is credited with enabling more than 20 million people to walk today who would otherwise have been paralyzed.
The study also demonstrated that when a vaccine saves a child’s life, that person goes on to live an average of 66 years of full health on average — resulting in a total of 10.2 billion full health years gained over the five decades.
“These gains in childhood survival highlight the importance of protecting immunization progress,” WHO said, pointing to accelerating efforts to reach 67 million children who missed at least one vaccination during the Covid pandemic.
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