World Immunization Week

World Immunization Week History

World Immunization Week (Start) aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against diseases. The key goal is to raise awareness about the critical importance of full immunization throughout life, spotlighting its value in securing global health.

The observation of World Immunization Week commenced in 2012 after the World Health Assembly endorsed such an initiative by the WHO. Ever since, this week-long movement has become a springboard to bring to light the joined global actions required to increase the coverage of vaccines and remind governments and health organizations to invigorate their efforts towards this goal.

World Immunization Week is celebrated each year in the last week of April, highlighting themes such as "Protected Together, #VaccinesWork". The event usually features various activities at global, regional, and country levels, all aimed to augment and underpin sustained immunization actions for the future. World Immunization Week is celebrated in the last week of April each year.

Facts about World Immunization Week

• The theme for World Immunization Week in 2025 was Immunization for All is Humanly Possible.
  The theme in 2024 was Humanly Possible: Saving lives through immunization.
  The theme in 2023 was The Big Catch-Up.
  In 2022, the theme was Long Life for All.
• In 2023, Pakistan reported two confirmed cases of WPV1, both occurring in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
  As of 2022, the only countries that still have active cases of polio are Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 1998, Polio was an endemic in 125 countries.
• According to the CDC, in 2023, over 4 million deaths worldwide are prevented by vaccinations.
  According to The Commonwealth Fund, in 2022, vaccines helped prevent over 18 million hospitalizations and more than 3 million deaths.
• Due to the success of vaccinations, the last natural outbreak of smallpox in the United States occurred in 1949. In 1980, the World Health Organization declared the smallpox virus to have been eradicated.
• Vaccines are the tugboats of preventive health - William Foege, American epidemiologist who led the way to eradicating smallpox.

In the News and Trending for World Immunization Week

Top things to do for World Immunization Week

• Get scheduled to get vaccinated. Being vaccinated can help ensure that you remain healthy and protected against disease.
• Read more about how vaccines work from the World Health Organization.
• Watch the documentary The Vaccine War by PBS. It explores the pros and cons of vaccines.