National Infant Immunization Week - April 24-30
World Immunization Week, celebrated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed and to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease.
Through its convening power, the World Health Organization works with countries across the globe to raise awareness of the value of vaccines and immunization and ensures that governments obtain the necessary guidance and technical support to implement high-quality immunization programs.
The ultimate goal of World Immunization Week is for more people – and their communities – to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.
This week coincides with the National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW), a yearly observance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), highlighting the importance of protecting children two years and younger from vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs). It’s also a time to showcase the achievements of immunization programs and their partners in promoting healthy communities.
This year, more than ever, we recognize the critical role vaccination plays in protecting our children and communities and the nation’s public health from 14 vaccine-preventable diseases. As opportunities for in-person learning and play grow, the CDC recommends families check with their healthcare providers to make sure children are up to date on routinely recommended vaccines, following disruptions from COVID-19.
History of National Infant Immunization Week
Every year, National Infant Immunization Week is observed to protect small children from vaccine-preventable diseases. It is essential to make sure that the families stay on track with their children’s vaccination.
The first National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) was observed in 1994 with the support of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. NIIW was created to increase the profile of infant immunization programs in the United States.
Immunization saves millions of lives every year but, still, there are more than 19 million under-vaccinated people. National Infant Immunization Week promotes immunization programs and increases awareness thereof.
Before, children were not protected through immunizations, which put them at risk of fatal diseases. But today, children can be protected from 14 serious diseases. Yes, the shots might hurt a little but the diseases that they protect the infants from are much more dangerous. It is better to keep your children protected from infectious diseases.
Overview of Vaccines and Immunization
Immunization is a global health and development success story, saving millions of lives every year. Vaccines reduce the risks of getting a disease by working with your body’s natural defenses to build protection. When you get a vaccine, your immune system responds.
We now have vaccines to prevent more than 20 life-threatening diseases, helping people of all ages live longer, healthier lives. Immunization currently prevents 3.5-5 million deaths every year from diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza, and measles.
Immunization is a key component of primary health care and an indisputable human right. It’s also one of the best health investments money can buy. Vaccines are also critical to the prevention and control of infectious disease outbreaks. They underpin global health security and will be a vital tool in the battle against antimicrobial resistance.
Yet despite tremendous progress, vaccination coverage has plateaued in recent years and even dropped for the first time in a decade in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated disruptions over the past two years have strained health systems, with 23 million children missing out on vaccination in 2020, 3.7 million more than in 2019, and the highest number since 2009.
Preliminary data from 2021 show continued disruption but more positively, by the end of 2021, nearly all countries had introduced COVID-19 vaccination, and by early 2022 one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been delivered through COVAX.
NIIW is April 24 – 30, 2022, as part of World Immunization Week (WIW), a World Health Organization (WHO) initiative. During WIW, all six WHO regions, including more than 180 member states, territories, and areas promote immunization, advance equity and universal access to vaccination, and enable cooperation on cross-border immunization.
FAQs
What are routine vaccines?
Routine vaccines are those that are recommended for everyone, depending on age and vaccine history. In addition to childhood vaccines, there are also routine vaccines for adolescents, pregnant women, adults, and older adults. Each one is designed to protect you from the diseases that most affect you at each point of your life.
Why are routine vaccines important?
Routine vaccines protect you from infectious diseases such as measles, rubella, influenza, polio, yellow fever, pneumococcus, or HPV, which can spread rapidly in groups of unvaccinated people. It is important that you receive all doses of a vaccination series to be completely protected.
How do I know which vaccines I need?
Ask your health provider or nearby health center to find out what vaccines you need based on your age, health, and vaccination history.
What is in a vaccine?
All the ingredients of a vaccine play an important role in ensuring a vaccine is safe and effective. Some of these include:
- The antigen. This is a killed or weakened form of a virus or bacteria, which trains our bodies to recognize and fight the disease if we encounter it in the future.
- Adjuvants, which help to boost our immune response. This means they help vaccines to work better.
- Preservatives, which ensure a vaccine stays effective.
- Stabilisers, which protect the vaccine during storage and transportation.
Vaccine ingredients can look unfamiliar when they are listed on a label. However, many of the components used in vaccines occur naturally in the body, in the environment, and in the foods we eat. All of the ingredients in vaccines – as well as the vaccines themselves - are thoroughly tested and monitored to ensure they are safe.
How does a vaccine work?
Vaccines reduce the risks of getting a disease by working with your body’s natural defenses to build protection. When you get a vaccine, your immune system responds. It:
- Recognizes the invading germ, such as the virus or bacteria.
- Produces antibodies. Antibodies are proteins produced naturally by the immune system to fight disease.
- Remembers the disease and how to fight it. If you are then exposed to the germ in the future, your immune system can quickly destroy it before you become unwell.
The vaccine is therefore a safe and clever way to produce an immune response in the body, without causing illness.
Our immune systems are designed to remember. Once exposed to one or more doses of a vaccine, we typically remain protected against a disease for years, decades or even a lifetime. This is what makes vaccines so effective. Rather than treating a disease after it occurs, vaccines prevent us in the first instance from getting sick.
Are there side effects from vaccines?
Like any medicine, vaccines can cause mild side effects, such as a low-grade fever, or pain or redness at the injection site. Mild reactions go away within a few days on their own.
Severe or long-lasting side effects are extremely rare. Vaccines are continually monitored for safety, to detect rare adverse events.
Why should I get vaccinated?
Without vaccines, we are at risk of serious illness and disability from diseases like measles, meningitis, pneumonia, tetanus, and polio. Many of these diseases can be life-threatening. WHO estimates that childhood vaccines alone save over 4 million lives every year.
Although some diseases may have become uncommon, the germs that cause them to continue to circulate in some or all parts of the world. In today’s world, infectious diseases can easily cross borders and infect anyone who is not protected
Two key reasons to get vaccinated are to protect ourselves and to protect those around us. Because not everyone can be vaccinated – including very young babies, those who are seriously ill or have certain allergies – they depend on others being vaccinated to ensure they are also safe from vaccine-preventable diseases.
I still have questions about vaccination. What should I do?
If you have questions about vaccines be sure to talk to your healthcare worker. He or she can provide you with science-based advice about vaccination for you and your family, including the recommended vaccination schedule in your country.
When looking online for information about vaccines, be sure to consult only trustworthy sources. To help you find them, WHO has reviewed and ‘certified’ many websites across the world that provide only information based on reliable scientific evidence and independent reviews by leading technical experts. These websites are all members of the Vaccine Safety Net.
Current Challenges
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused some infants and children to miss or delay routinely recommended vaccinations.
A CDC report released in May 2020 found a troubling drop in routine childhood vaccinations as a result of families staying at home. While families followed public health warnings about going out, an unfortunate result was many missed recommended vaccinations.
This week serves as a reminder about the importance of staying on track and ensuring infants are up to date on recommended vaccines. CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend that children stay on track with their well-child appointments and routine vaccinations – following disruptions from COVID-19.
Milestones Reached
These major achievements highlight controlling vaccine-preventable diseases among infants and young children:
- Vaccines have drastically reduced infant deaths and disability caused by preventable diseases in the U.S.
- Through immunization, we can now protect infants and children from 14 vaccine-preventable diseases before age two.
- Routine childhood immunization among children born from 1994-to 2018 will prevent:
- an estimated 419 million illnesses,
- 8 million hospitalizations, and
- 936,000 early deaths over the course of their lifetimes.
Childhood immunization has resulted in a net savings of $406 billion in direct costs and $1.9 trillion in total economic impact.
Key Messages for National Infant Immunization Week
Use key messages to encourage parents to stay up to date on their child’s vaccinations. Use these messages or adapt them to fit your particular audience.
- National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) highlights the importance of protecting infants and young children from vaccine-preventable diseases. This year, a primary focus is to ensure families stay on track for their children’s well-child visits and routinely recommended vaccinations.
- COVID-19 has caused many disruptions in families’ lives – and in some cases, it has meant that children have missed or delayed their wellness checkups and vaccination, which are a critical part of ensuring children stay healthy. CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend that children stay on track with their well-child appointments and routine vaccinations.
- Most parents choose the safe, proven protection of vaccines. Giving babies the recommended vaccinations by age two is the best way to protect them from 14 serious childhood diseases, like whooping cough (pertussis) and measles.
- Vaccines are among the most successful and cost-effective public health tools available for preventing disease and death. Vaccines help protect both individuals and communities by preventing and reducing the spread of infectious diseases. Among children born during 1994-2018, vaccination will prevent an estimated 419 million illnesses, 26.8 million hospitalizations, and 936,000 deaths over their lifetimes.
- Vaccination is a shared responsibility. Families, healthcare professionals, and public health officials must work together to help protect the entire community.
- Vaccines are safe. The U.S. has a long-standing vaccine safety system that ensures vaccines are as safe as possible. As new information and science become available, vaccine recommendations are monitored, updated, and improved.
- Trust in vaccines is built through millions of conversations between parents, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and community members. NIIW provides an opportunity to encourage vaccine conversations at all community levels.
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw/index.html
https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-immunization-week
https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-immunization-week/2022
https://nationaltoday.com/national-infant-immunization-week/