8 May 2017 – WHO in Jordan, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and UNICEF, launched World Immunization Week 2017 at Al Hashmi Al Shamali health centre which conducts vaccination.
World Immunization Week celebrated in the last week of April aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. Immunization saves millions of lives and is widely recognized as one of the world’s most successful and cost-effective health interventions. Today, there are still 19.4 million unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children in the world.
WHO Representative to Jordan Dr Maria Cristina Profili thanked the efforts of the Government, health partners and the local community, as vaccines are being made available to more people at affordable prices.
“The Global Vaccine Action Plan", endorsed by WHO’s 194 Member States during the World Health Assembly in May 2012, provides a framework to prevent millions of deaths by 2020 through providing more equitable access to existing vaccines for people in all communities. Jordan as a country has achieved great success in its immunization programme. "The country is doing remarkably well looking at the high immunization overages for almost all antigens and acute flaccid paralysis surveillance that is meeting the global standard,” noted Dr Profili.
The call for this week is to achieve the goals of the "Global Vaccine Action Plan" ensuring strong country commitment for immunization as a priority, demanding immunization as a right and responsibility, equitably extending the benefits of immunization to all people, building health systems, ensuring sustainable funding and taking this agenda forward through research and further development.