This week is World Immunisation Week 2024. It provides us with an opportunity to consider the important role vaccines play in our fight against disease around the world. After clean water, vaccines are the most impactful public health measure we have. We now have vaccines that prevent more than 20 life threatening diseases, and without doubt they save lives.
This includes the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine which according to the World Health Organisation has saved 94 million lives across the globe in the last 50 years. With the rise in Measle cases in the England, it is a good time for Erewash residents to check their child’s records and make sure they are up to date with their MMR vaccinations.
This week also gives us an opportunity to celebrate the role the UK has played in the development of vaccinations. British based research and development has produced lifesaving vaccines for diseases that affect people in the UK, including for COVID-19, as well as developing new vaccines against some of the deadliest diseases across the globe, such as malaria.
As the former Vaccine Minister in the Department of Health and Social Care, I played a vital role in coordinating the UK’s COVID-19 vaccination programme, ensuring that people in every corner of the UK could receive a dose of the lifesaving vaccination. Without doubt, the success of this vaccination programme and the high uptake amongst the British public helped us defeat COVID-19.
Despite significant progress made over the last five decades, the UK needs to continue to play an important role in ensuring that communities across the world have access to lifesaving vaccines.
Whether it be questioning the Government about our annual Winter Flu programme or pressing Ministers to ensure that British Foreign Aid includes investments to Gavi, the vaccine alliance, I will continue to make sure that vaccines are a high priority on our Government’s agenda.
More information about World Immunisation Week can be found online here.