With 15 out of every 100 children in the Americas only partially protected against vaccine-preventable diseases, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, has urged countries of the region to continue efforts to recover routine vaccination coverage.
“Historically, our Region has always been a leader in disease elimination. However, for more than a decade, vaccination coverage have significantly decreased,” Dr. Barbosa said during a press briefing today to mark the upcoming Vaccination Week in the Americas. This is due to several factors, including a false perception that eliminated and controlled disease no long pose a risk to peoples’ health; a reduction in the prioritization of vaccination programs; and the rise in disinformation since the COVID-19 pandemic, among other factors. While improvements have been made to recover lost ground, the PAHO Director underscored that more must be done to reinstate regional vaccination coverage, particularly for highly contagious diseases like measles. “This is very concerning, given the rise in measles cases around the globe & the highly contagious nature of this virus,” Dr. Barbosa said. Countries also remain far from the 90% coverage rate needed to protect girls ages 9 to 14 against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), “which affords them lifelong protection against cervical cancer, one of the main causes of death among women,” Dr. Barbosa said. The PAHO Director highlighted that as countries work towards recovery, they must overcome several challenges. To do this, they will need to increase financial and technical resources to improve the performance of essential vaccination services, establish effective communication strategies to tackle vaccine hesitancy, and increase political commitment to routine vaccination programs.
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