CDC Features

CDC Features

State of the World's Vaccines and Immunizations

Photo courtesy of the World Health Organization.

More infants are being immunized today than ever before. However, millions of children living in the world's poorest countries remain unprotected and at risk for serious disease and death. CDC works with international partners to reduce illness and death from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Full text of The State of the World's Vaccines and Immunization, written by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the World Bank, is available online.

Increased immunization coverage around the world is a key reason why the number of children dying each year has fallen below 10 million for the first time in documented history.

The State of the World's Vaccines and Immunization, released on October 21, 2009, reports the successes in the overall global immunization effort. Despite great progress, millions of children are at risk, particularly in the poorest nations and communities, where preventable diseases take their deadliest toll.

The State of the World's Vaccines and Immunization

Key points reported in The State of the World's Vaccines and Immunization:

A record 106 million infants were vaccinated in 2008.
Vaccines against tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, measles, hepatitis B, and Hib disease are preventing 2.5 million deaths each year.
Since 2000, expanded use of measles vaccine has helped drop global measles-related deaths from an estimated 750,000 to 197,000 annually. The goal to reduce mortality by 90% in 2010 compared to 2000 is within reach. Most regions have already set targets to eliminate measles from their countries within the next decade.
The number of cases of polio has been reduced by 99% compared to 1988. Only four countries still have endemic transmission, and the goal of global eradication is on the near horizon.
The first decade of the 21st century has been the most productive in the history of vaccine development. New life-saving vaccines have been developed for meningococcal meningitis, rotavirus diarrhea disease, pneumococcal disease, and cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV).

Despite great progress in immunizing more children over the past decade, 24 million children – almost 20 percent of the children born each year – do not get the complete routine vaccinations scheduled for their first year of life. By missing essential vaccinations, these children – most of whom live in the world's poorest countries – are vulnerable to disability and death from serious infectious diseases.

Steven Stewart, photographer

If all the vaccines now available against childhood diseases were widely adopted, and if countries could raise vaccine coverage to a global average of 90 percent, by 2015 an additional two million deaths a year could be prevented among children under 5 years old. – World Health Organization (WHO) estimate

See the State of the World's Vaccines and Immunization for additional information, including an executive summary in 6 languages, a webcast announcing the report, and a video showing vaccinated children around the world.

What CDC Is Doing

CDC is a spearheading partner in both the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and the Measles Initiative, whose goal is to reduce global measles deaths by 90% by 2010, compared with deaths in 2000. CDC works with numerous organizations in these initiatives, including WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International, the American Red Cross, the United Nations Foundation, and Ministries of Health from affected countries.

As a global immunization partner, CDC:

Deploys public health experts to WHO and UNICEF for leadership roles in polio eradication and measles/rubella control programs. These staff work closely with Ministries of Health and their national immunization programs.
Conducts outbreak investigations and program operations research.
Helps plan, monitor, and evaluate large-scale vaccination campaigns.
Funds the purchase of tens of millions of doses of polio and measles vaccines for use in mass vaccination campaigns.
Trains and deploys public health volunteers for 3-month field assignments in more than 60 countries in the Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) program.
Assists Ministries of Health in introducing new vaccines and integrating them into routine immunization programs.
Works closely with vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) laboratories and develops integrated surveillance of VPDs in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Develops and conducts training in data management for both routine immunization and new vaccine surveillance in more than 25 countries.
Develops and evaluates tools/strategies for improving routine vaccination coverage in high priority countries such as India and Nigeria.