Vaccine refusal among top 10 threats to public health: WHO

Refusal or hesitation to get vaccination against deadly diseases despite availability of vaccines is seen as one of the top threats to public health, according to World Health Organisation (WHO). The UN agency recently released a list of what it considers the top 10 threats to global health for 2019, which include air pollution, obesity and antibiotic resistance. This is the first time that vaccine hesitancy has made it to the UN agency’s list of ten biggest threats to world health. “Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease — it currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccination improved,” it said. In India, lack of awareness and information coupled with apprehension of adverse event following immunisation are seen as the major reasons for children not getting vaccinated. The two factors together account for around 65% of the children not getting vaccine coverage, as per government estimates. Between 2014 and 2018, India’s annual immunisation growth rate has risen to 4% from 1% previously

Source: Times of India, 24/01/2019