Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Global Vaccine Push To Save 50 Million Lives By 2030: WHO

Global Vaccine Push To Save 50 Million Lives By 2030: WHO

The World Health Organization, along with the UN children's agency and the vaccine alliance Gavi, said their new global strategy had the potential to save 50 million lives within less than a decade.

The WHO and partners called Monday for action to boost vaccination against measles and other diseases worldwide after the pandemic severely disrupted access to routine jabs.

The World Health Organization, along with the UN children's agency and the vaccine alliance Gavi, said their new global strategy had the potential to save 50 million lives within less than a decade.

"If we're to avoid multiple outbreaks of life-threatening diseases like measles, yellow fever and diphtheria, we must ensure routine vaccination services are protected in every country in the world," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

The push comes as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to disrupt essential health services worldwide.

While the situation has improved somewhat from last year, a WHO survey showed more than one third of countries were still seeing disruptions to their routine immunisation services.

And around 60 mass vaccination campaigns were currently postponed in 50 countries, putting around 228 million people, mostly children, at risk for diseases such as measles and polio, the joint statement said.

"Millions of children across the world are likely to miss out on basic vaccines as the current pandemic threatens to unravel two decades of progress in routine immunisation", Gavi chief Seth Berkley warned.

'No time to waste'


The supply of vaccines and other equipment is also essential for child vaccinations.

Unicef said disruptions due to Covid-19 had dramatically reduced the vaccine doses it delivered last year to 2.01 billion, down from 2.29 billion in 2019.

UNICEF head Henrietta Fore agreed, stressing that "even before the pandemic, there were worrying signs that we were beginning to lose ground in the fight against preventable child illness."

Prior to the Covid-19 crisis, she said, some 20 million children were already missing out on critical vaccines, and "the pandemic has made a bad situation worse".

"Now that vaccines are at the forefront of everyone's minds, we must sustain this energy to help every child catch up on their measles, polio and other vaccines," she said.

"We have no time to waste. Lost ground means lost lives."

Gaps in vaccination coverage had already led to serious measle outbreaks in a range of countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Yemen, the organisations said, warning that other outbreaks should be expected as growing numbers of children miss their shots.

The new vaccination strategy to boost immunisations services globally, with the aim of achieving 90-percent coverage for essential vaccines given in childhood and adolescence by 2030.

By that time, it also aims to slash in half the number of children in the world who receive no vaccines at all.

And it strives to introduce or scale up the use of new or under-utilised vaccines for diseases like Covid-19, rotavirus and human papillomavirus (HPV).

The push, the organisations said, had the potential of saving 50 million lives -- 75 percent of them in poorer countries.

"To support the recovery from Covid-19 and to fight future pandemics, we will need to ensure routine immunisation is prioritised," Berkley said.

"To do this, we need to work together -- across development agencies, governments and civil society -- to ensure that no child is left behind."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
×