Skip to main content

Advertising Disclaimer »

Main menu

  • Journals
    • Pediatrics
    • Hospital Pediatrics
    • Pediatrics in Review
    • NeoReviews
    • AAP Grand Rounds
    • AAP News
  • AAP Policy
    • Topic/Program Collections
    • Policy
  • Pediatric Collections
    • COVID-19
    • Racism and Its Effect on Pediatric Health
    • More Collections...
  • Multimedia
    • Video Abstracts
    • Pediatrics On Call Podcast
  • Alerts
    • Table of Contents
    • Insights
  • AAP Career Center
  • Subscribe
  • Other Publications
    • American Academy of Pediatrics

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
American Academy of Pediatrics

AAP Gateway

Advanced Search

AAP Logo

  • Log in
  • My Cart
  • Journals
    • Pediatrics
    • Hospital Pediatrics
    • Pediatrics in Review
    • NeoReviews
    • AAP Grand Rounds
    • AAP News
  • AAP Policy
    • Topic/Program Collections
    • Policy
  • Pediatric Collections
    • COVID-19
    • Racism and Its Effect on Pediatric Health
    • More Collections...
  • Multimedia
    • Video Abstracts
    • Pediatrics On Call Podcast
  • Alerts
    • Table of Contents
    • Insights
  • AAP Career Center
  • Subscribe
NEWS AND FEATURES

AAP endorses report on improving global immunization systems

Walter A. Orenstein
AAP News June 2014, 35 (6) 10; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/aapnews.2014356-10
Walter A. Orenstein
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • Comments
Loading
Download PDF
  • Copyright © 2014 by the American Academy of Pediatrics


Embedded Image

Immunizations have saved an estimated 2 million to 3 million lives globally and prevent substantial illness and disability every year. Thanks to global vaccine programs, smallpox has been eradicated, polio is on the verge of eradication and measles mortality has decreased by 71% worldwide.

The United States has seen even greater progress, including a 99% decrease in the incidence of nine diseases that we have been vaccinating against for decades and the elimination of indigenous measles and rubella from the Americas.


Embedded Image

Photo courtesy of CDC/Chris Zahniser, B.S.N., R.N., M.P.H.

A health care worker administers oral polio vaccine in northern India. The importance of supporting global immunization efforts — through advocacy, education and partnerships — is highlighted in a National Vaccine Advisory Committee report.

The United States benefits from a strong immunization system and should support efforts to improve immunizations globally. All countries deserve these same benefits, and it is our duty and in our interest to protect domestic health security.

The National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) recently published a report titled Enhancing the Work of the HHS National Vaccine Program in Global Immunizations (www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac/reports/) that makes recommendations for supporting and improving global immunization systems and goals. The Academy has endorsed this report.

Future of global immunization

The 194 member states of the World Health Assembly, representing 99% of the world’s countries, recently endorsed the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) to realize this era as the Decade of Vaccines. The action plan is designed to provide more equitable access to vaccines for all people, regardless of who they are or where they live, and to prevent millions of deaths by 2020.

The NVAC’s global immunization report describes why the Decade of Vaccines and the action plan are urgently needed and deserve support: “Vaccine-preventable diseases still account for a quarter of the deaths in children under five. Vaccines against common causes of pneumonia and diarrheal diseases, the leading causes of death in children, are still not widely accessed by developing countries. Children in the lowest wealth quintiles are still the least likely to receive immunizations.”

Many of the focus areas and recommendations in NVAC’s report are aligned with the GVAP’s strategic objectives. The report illustrates that the United States has provided strong leadership and support of global immunization efforts and urges government leaders to continue this support for the well-being and safety of its citizens and to continue humanitarian leadership. As long as diseases like polio and measles are circulating anywhere in the world, all countries are at risk for dire economic and public health consequences of resurgence.

Though measles was eliminated in the United States in 2000, sporadic measles importations from other countries have resulted in costly outbreak investigations and control measures — 63 outbreaks of measles resulting in 911 cases from 2001-’11.

Figure1

Dr. Orenstein

Public health response to these importations involves state and local public health staff time, vaccine administration, laboratory testing, and other outbreak control efforts. These are costly and strain already sparse budgets. For instance, the cost of responding to two 2011 outbreaks in Utah were estimated to have exceeded $300,000.

Failure to eradicate polio in the three countries that have never interrupted transmission of polio (Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria) has resulted in children being crippled by preventable disease in those countries as well as reinfection of seven other countries. Though we are at the nadir of polio cases, continued failure to eradicate polio could result in as many as 200,000 new cases every year within 10 years. Moreover, three of the nine new or underutilized vaccines being implemented as part of the GVAP — Haemophilus influenzae type b, pneumococcal and rotavirus — are expected to prevent 102 million cases of disease, save 3.7 million lives and save $63 billion from 2011-’20.

The NVAC recommendations outlined in the report fall under six primary focus areas:

  1. tackling time-limited opportunities (e.g. completing polio eradication, advancing measles mortality reduction, etc.);

  2. strengthening immunization systems;

  3. improving vaccine safety monitoring and surveillance;

  4. increasing research and development capacity;

  5. strengthening vaccine decision-making capacity; and

  6. supporting U.S. leadership efforts in working with partners (e.g. facilitating long-term assignment of professional staff).

Support from pediatricians

The Academy encourages its members and other pediatric societies to become familiar with the report and look for ways to advocate for the principles therein (see resources). In addition to ensuring that their own patients, traveling or not, are fully immunized, U.S. pediatricians can support global immunization efforts in several ways.

  • Advocate with pediatric societies in other countries, particularly developing countries, to incorporate critical vaccines into childhood immunization schedules; improve immunization delivery and access; and educate parents, providers and government officials about the importance of immunization.

  • Educate U.S. leaders about the benefits of supporting global immunization, prevention of disease, disability and death both in other countries and the United States.

  • Partner with groups working in immunization, including Rotary on polio, Lions on measles and UNICEF.

  • Reach out to immigrant populations in your area to ensure they are appropriately immunized.

Resources

  • Decade of Vaccines, www.dovcollaboration.org/

  • Global Vaccine Action Plan, www.dovcollaboration.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/GlobalVaccineActionPlan_interactive.pdf

  • Vaccines recommended for international travelers, wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel

  • AAP Global Immunization website, www2.aap.org/international/immunization/

  • Volunteer and advocacy programs:

    • United Nations Volunteers Program, www.unv.org/how-to-volunteer.html

    • Rotary – End Polio, www.endpolio.org

    • Lions Club International measles initiative, www.lcif.org/EN/our-programs/humanitarianefforts/measles/index.php

    • UNICEF – Role in Immunization, www.unicef.org/immunization/index_27089.html

    • UNICEF United States Fund Volunteer, http://actioncenter.unicefusa.org/

Footnotes

  • Dr. Orenstein is a member of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases. Katherine Seib, M.S.P.H., research project manager at Emory University, contributed to this work.

PreviousNext
Back to top

Advertising Disclaimer »

In this issue

AAP News: 35 (6)
AAP News
Vol. 35, Issue 6
1 Jun 2014
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
View this article with LENS
PreviousNext
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on American Academy of Pediatrics.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
AAP endorses report on improving global immunization systems
(Your Name) has sent you a message from American Academy of Pediatrics
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the American Academy of Pediatrics web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Request Permissions
Article Alerts
Log in
You will be redirected to aap.org to login or to create your account.
Or Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
AAP endorses report on improving global immunization systems
Walter A. Orenstein
AAP News Jun 2014, 35 (6) 10; DOI: 10.1542/aapnews.2014356-10

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
AAP endorses report on improving global immunization systems
Walter A. Orenstein
AAP News Jun 2014, 35 (6) 10; DOI: 10.1542/aapnews.2014356-10
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Print
Download PDF
  • Table of Contents

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Future of global immunization
    • Support from pediatricians
    • Footnotes
  • Info & Metrics
  • Comments

Related Articles

  • As measles cases increase, familiarize yourself with signs and symptoms
  • This month in Pediatrics
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Strong stance
    AAP releases multiple policies to protect youths from tobacco, nicotine
  • Address causes of climate change to help alleviate effects on children: AAP
  • AAP policy cites harms of e-cigarettes; urges screening
Show more NEWS AND FEATURES

Similar Articles

Subjects

  • Infectious Diseases
    • Infectious Diseases
    • Vaccine/Immunization
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • 2021 AAP Journals Catalog
  • Pediatrics
  • Pediatrics in Review
  • Hospital Pediatrics
  • NeoReviews
  • AAP Grand Rounds
  • AAP Career Center
  • shopAAP
  • AAP.org
  • AAP News
  • Visit AAP News on Facebook
  • Follow AAP News on Twitter
American Academy of Pediatrics

© 2021 American Academy of Pediatrics