Vaccine Literacy, a Crucial Healthcare Innovation
9 million children under age five die per year from diseases easily prevented and/or treated through vaccinations. Seriously. 9 million.
You don’t see all of the anti-choice religious fundamentalists up in arms about that, even though those stats represent real people deaths as opposed to fetus’ aborted.
While vaccines (initially discovered in 1792) now enter their fourth century of proven success in saving lives and eradicating scourges of the past — notably smallpox, and nearly polio — immunizations are challenged and refused in many parts of the world.
There is complexity on why people refuse a proven intervention that has demonstrably enhanced health globally. The scientific, medical and public health establishment continues to provide evidence of the value of immunization. Nonetheless, we are still short of the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy 2010 goal established by the WHO and Unicef that aims for countries to reach at least 90% national vaccination coverage.
This means that nearly 23.5 million children are still not fully immunized annually; and, nearly 9 million children under 5 die each year from causes that can be prevented (by immunization) or treated.