Control of vaccine preventable diseases through vaccination will make a critical contribution to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3), ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages. Vaccination remains one of the most cost-effective public health interventions, saving millions of lives every year.

In recent decades, countries of the South-East Asia Region has maintained its polio-free status since 2014 and elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus since 2016. Measles elimination has been achieved and maintained in five countries while two of these countries have also achieved rubella elimination. Four countries have been verified as having achieved hepatitis B control through immunization in 2019. All countries of the Region have introduced between two and eight new or underutilized vaccines since 2011.