By TIOL News Service

NEW YORK, APR 23, 2015: ONE in five children still missing out on routine life-saving immunizations that could avert 1.5 million deaths each year from preventable diseases. This warning was sounded by the United Nations World Health Organization earlier this week as it reckoned that progress towards global vaccination targets for 2015 is “far off track.”

The warning corroborates the large measles outbreaks in the past year occcuring in several countries across the world, threatening efforts to achieve the global target of eliminating measles in three regions by the end of this year.

As the World Immunization Week begins on April 24, WHO Assistant Director-General, Family, Women's and Children's Health Dr. Flavia Bustreo said it is time for the global community to make a collective and cohesive effort to put progress towards our six targets back on track.

World Immunization Week creates a focused global platform to reinvigorate member nations' collective effort to ensure vaccination for every child, whoever they are and wherever they live, according to a press release issued in Geneva.

Nearly 22 million infants in 2013 missed out on the required three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-containing vaccines (DTP3), many of them living in the world's poorest countries. The WHO Director has called “for an end to the unnecessary disability and death caused by failure to vaccinate.”

All 194 WHO member States at the World Health Assembly endorsed in 2012 the Global Vaccine Action Plan , a commitment to ensure that no one misses out on vital immunization, but a new independent assessment report on progress rings an alarm bell, warning that vaccines are not being delivered equitably or reliably. According to WHO, only one of the six key vaccination targets for 2015 is currently on track.

The Global Vaccine Action Plan envisions a world where everyone lives life free from vaccine preventable diseases by 2020. It had set six targets for 2015: immunization against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (DTP3), introduction of under-utilized vaccines, polio eradication, maternal and neonatal tetanus, measles elimination and rubella elimination.

The Plan recommends three key steps for closing the immunization gap: integrating immunization with other health services, such as post-natal care for mothers and babies; strengthening health systems so that vaccines continue to be given even in times of crisis; and ensuring that everyone can access vaccines and afford to pay for them.

Dr. Jean-Marie Okwo-Belé, WHO Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, pledged the Organization will work to increase its support to all countries that are lagging behind in meeting immunization targets.

In May 2015, WHO will bring together high-level representatives of 34 countries with routine vaccination coverage of less than 80 per cent to discuss the challenges faced by countries and will explore solutions to overcome them.