European Immunisation Week 2022
April 8, 2022
Download our Communication Toolkit!
From April 24 till 30, we will celebrate the World Immunisation Week, also the European Immunisation Week!
Although we don’t need a specific time in the year to talk about the value of vaccination, #WIW2022 creates the opportunity to further emphasise the importance of equitable and expanded access to vaccines for a long and healthy life for everyone, that vaccination is a key pillar of resilient health systems guardian of “Long Life for All”, and that vaccination, daily, contributes to people’s health protection against external threats, whether from recurrent risk of infectious diseases to pandemics and even war.
Two years after the declaration of the Covid 19 pandemic by WHO, and despite having enough vaccines for the world today, we still do not reach equity in access. The world is still struggling with lack of resources and infrastructure to implement massively and effectively a vaccination targeting first the adult population prone to vaccine hesitancy.
This pandemic is now followed by a terrible war forcing millions of refugees fleeing Ukraine to find shelter and security in other European countries. As we know, viruses have no borders and enjoy even more spreading in the context of human and sanitarian crisis. Ensuring that both refugees and the population of welcoming countries are protected against life-threatening vaccine preventable diseases is of paramount. But here again, we are already in a reactive situation, whereas we have the tools not to be! Permanent high uptake of routine vaccination across the life-course in all countries is the best way to be prepared against external threats so that resources and attention in times of crisis can remain focused on what could not have been prevented.
Help us to share the word! Engage with us on Twitter and LinkedIn from April 24 and 30 and download the communication toolkit here (EMBARGO until April 24)
Sibilia Quilici, Executive Director Vaccines Europe