Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at his weekly press conference that smallpox has been eliminated thanks to vaccines, and many diseases such as measles and pneumonia, once feared, can now be easily prevented.
Ghebreyesus said 84% of children worldwide had received three doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine, recalling that in 1974, when WHO launched the Expanded Program on Immunization (PEI), less than 5% of children in the whole world were vaccinated.
Director-General Ghebreyesus said that EIP supports countries to establish standardized vaccination programs against smallpox and other diseases, saying that “EIP is estimated to have saved at least 154 million lives to date since 1974. This means that 8 thousand lives per day and 6 lives per hour have been saved by vaccination in the last 50 years”.
Ghebreyesus explained that thanks to vaccination, the probability that a child born today will reach the age of 5 has increased by 40% compared to a child born 50 years ago.
At the same time, the official called on world leaders to support and fund immunization programs, which provide life-saving vaccines and products.
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