Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. THE Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) has called on the Health and Child Care ministry to amplify awareness campaigns on vaccination to fight vaccine myths and save lives.
CWGH executive director Itai Rusike said this as the country joined the rest of the world in commemorating the World Immunisation Week.
World Immunisation Week is a global public health campaign to raise awareness and increase rates of immunisation against vaccine-preventable diseases around the world.
This year’s commemorations were held under the theme Immunisation for All is Humanly Possible.’
“Vaccines are proof that less disease, more life is possible when we put our minds to it,” Rusike said.
“Remote rural communities continue to face challenges of access to health facilities as some walking distances are considerable, some roads and bridges may not be passable till the dry season.”
He further explained that there is also lack of awareness about the importance of vaccines.
“For this reason, it is important to continually engage all possible pockets of resistance and educate them on the unique value of vaccination and its power to protect health, life and of late preserve the few effective antibiotics by curbing resistance,” the CWGH boss said.
“Refusal to vaccinate can also be due to complacency as some have grown up without seeing cases of smallpox, polio which had been eliminated by vaccination.”
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over the last 50 years, essential vaccines saved at least 154 million lives.
In a statement, WHO said there was great need to amplify children’s rights through vaccination.
“Everyone must work together to ensure no child is left unprotected. Every vaccine shot counts in saving lives,” WHO said in a statement.
“Over 109 million completed all three doses.
“But, despite progress, about 20 million infants missed at least one dose last year, including 14 million who never got vaccinated at all.”
In 2024, around 115 million babies worldwide received at least one dose of vaccine to protect against deadly diseases like diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.
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