UAE To Participate In World Immunisation Week

The UAE will participate on Friday in celebrating the annual World Immunisation Week launched by the World Health Organisation, WHO, in the last week of April.

This year’s celebration will be different from previous ones, as the world is preoccupied with searching for a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

The world celebrated this occasion annually to help vaccinate around 20 million children around the world, who are totally or partially deprived of vaccinations. However, this year, the world is facing a significant challenge that requires finding a vaccine for all humanity.

Despite the optimism about the world’s capacity to reduce the effects of the virus, through improving health procedures and the related efforts to combat the pandemic, there is a consensus that overcoming the crisis will only happen after a vaccine is found.

Locally, the UAE is implementing a free National Immunisation Programme for citizens and residents, which aims to benefit all individuals in the community.

The Ministry of Health and Prevention has responded to the exceptional circumstances imposed by the coronavirus outbreak and confirmed the continuity of the National Immunisation Programme during the current period. It also implemented preventive measures to counter the virus, including providing separate entrances and exits for people coming to specially allocated immunisation centres and ensuring that they are not exposed to other patients.

The UAE is one of the key supporters of the global efforts aimed at combatting pandemics, such as Guinea worm, polio and malaria, and preventing their spread.

During this week, many countries have started testing vaccines against coronavirus. Matt Hancock, UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced that a vaccine developed by Oxford University will be tested on people starting today.

In Germany, health authorities announced yesterday that BioNTech will begin preliminary clinical trials to develop a coronavirus vaccine, noting that the Paul Ehrlich Institute declared on its website that the first phase of testing will include 200 volunteers aged between 18 and 55.

The United States, China and other countries highlighted their significant progress in developing a vaccine.

The WHO believes that creating a reliable vaccine requires more than a year of work. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, noted that most countries are still in the early stages of combatting the virus, stating, “We are still at the beginning, this virus will remain with us for a long time to come.”

World Immunization Week – celebrated in the last week of April (24 to 30 April) – aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. Immunization saves millions of lives every year and is widely recognized as one of the world’s most successful and cost-effective health interventions.

The theme this year is #VaccinesWork for All and the campaign will focus on how vaccines – and the people who develop, deliver and receive them – are heroes by working to protect the health of everyone, everywhere.