World immunization week 2017

Despite the proven effectiveness of vaccines and the tens of millions of lives they have saved, an estimated 400 000 people die needlessly every year in the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Western Pacific Region from diseases that vaccines could prevent. 

Vaccines save up to 3 million lives each year worldwide from infectious diseases, such as hepatitis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), measles and polio. Still, nearly 2.3 million children in the Region each year are not fully immunized against these threats.