The World Must Not Turn Its Back on Vaccines
The world is facing a choice: to renew its commitment to childhood vaccination, the most cost-effective public health intervention, or condemn millions of children to vulnerability for the rest of their lives. Vaccination has saved over 150 million lives in the past 50 ye…
Intelligence analysis by Llama
The world is losing sight of the evidence that vaccines can save lives. In high-income countries with functioning healthcare systems, vaccine hesitancy has led to a decline in vaccination rates. Meanwhile, global health funding has fallen by 40% compared to 2023, putting decades of progress in global health security at risk.
Imagine you're a parent in a country where there's a big problem with people not getting vaccinated. You want to protect your child from getting sick, but the vaccines are hard to get. That's what's happening in many parts of the world. The good news is that there are people and organizations working hard to get vaccines to the children who need them most. They're using a model called REACH, which stands for 'Reaching Every Child.' It's a way to get vaccines to children in areas that are hard to reach, like war zones or places with no roads. The people who work on REACH are like superheroes, using their skills and knowledge to get vaccines to children who might otherwise not get them. It's a big job, but it's worth it because vaccines can save lives.
Analysis
A $60B Vote of Confidence
The world is facing a choice: to renew its commitment to childhood vaccination, the most cost-effective public health intervention, or condemn millions of children to vulnerability for the rest of their lives. Vaccination has saved over 150 million lives in the past 50 years and is a proven way to reduce infant mortality. According to the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, every dollar invested in vaccination in low- and middle-income countries saves 20 dollars in healthcare costs and lost productivity, and over 50 dollars when considering all the benefits of a longer and healthier life.
Why the World is Losing Sight of Vaccination
In high-income countries with functioning healthcare systems, vaccine hesitancy has led to a decline in vaccination rates. Peor aún, la financiación de la salud mundial ha caído hasta un 40 % en comparación con 2023. Décadas de avances en el área de la seguridad sanitaria mundial (y las bases para los logros futuros) están en peligro. Las consecuencias de los enormes recortes que se están haciendo a las ayudas al extranjero se sienten con más intensidad en entornos frágiles y afectados por conflictos, donde vive más o menos la mitad de los 13,5 millones de niños que nunca han sido vacunados y donde la vacunación está estancada, sobre todo tras las interrupciones de tiempos de la pandemia.
The Solution: Investing in Vaccination
The problem is clear, but also the solution: investing in vaccinating the missing children, with distribution models created for those difficult environments. It doesn't have to be expensive. The International Rescue Committee (of which I am the director) has demonstrated with its REACH initiative that even in active conflict zones, it is possible to administer a vaccine dose to a child for less than two dollars. REACH receives funding from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and since 2022 has supplied over 30 million doses in Chad, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan, including over one million children with no previous dose. The model works because it is based on community health workers and a coalition of local partners who know the terrain and have built the necessary trust to reach remote and neglected communities. The result is that they can operate in places inaccessible to governments and external actors.
The Urgent Need for Action
In moments when Gavi is facing financial pressures, international leadership must decide whether to expand this and other models designed for fragile and conflict-affected environments. If so, their priorities must be two. First, funding must be data-driven, which means explicitly targeting communities that are out of reach of state systems, because it is there that the most children without any dose live. These communities must be considered a specific and urgent priority that must receive sustained, multi-year funding with clear accountability for results. Success can and must be measured by the number of children reached and the cost incurred. Second, international leadership must fund the model, not just the doses. To vaccinate in hard-to-reach places, you have to invest in local distribution channels: groups often composed of civil society organizations that are the backbone of the last stretch of the vaccination effort in conflict-affected and disaster-affected environments. Acting is imperative, both from an ethical and economic perspective. Bringing vaccines to communities where there are more children without any dose is not a secondary issue, but one of the most cost-effective investments in global health.
Key points
- The world is facing a choice: to renew its commitment to childhood vaccination or condemn millions of children to vulnerability for the rest of their lives.
- Vaccination has saved over 150 million lives in the past 50 years and is a proven way to reduce infant mortality.
- Global health funding has fallen by 40% compared to 2023, putting decades of progress in global health security at risk.
- The International Rescue Committee's REACH initiative has demonstrated that it is possible to administer a vaccine dose to a child for less than two dollars in conflict-affected environments.
- Funding must be data-driven and explicitly target communities that are out of reach of state systems.
- Sustained, multi-year funding is necessary to deliver vaccines to children in conflict-affected and disaster-affected environments.
If the world prioritizes funding for models designed to reach hard-to-reach communities, it can make a significant difference in the lives of millions of children. With sustained, multi-year funding, organizations like the International Rescue Committee can continue to deliver vaccines to children in conflict-affected and disaster-affected environments. This can lead to a significant reduction in infant mortality rates and a decrease in the number of children without any dose.
If the world fails to prioritize funding for models designed to reach hard-to-reach communities, the consequences will be severe. Millions of children will continue to live in areas without access to vaccines, leading to a significant increase in infant mortality rates and a decrease in the number of children without any dose. This will have far-reaching consequences for global health and security, and will undermine decades of progress in global health security.