Global routine vaccination coverage, 2009

The widespread use of vaccines has greatly improved global public health, preventing millions of childhood hospitalizations and deaths each year. Vaccination of children also is projected to avert adult deaths through the prevention of hepatitis B (HepB) virus–related chronic liver disease and liver cancer and human papilloma virus–related cervical cancer. When the World Health Organization (WHO) began the Expanded Programme on Immunization in 1974, <5% of the world’s children had been fully vaccinated with bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine, oral poliovirus vaccine, and measles-containing vaccine (MCV) during the first year of life. Since then, increased vaccination coverage has resulted in substantial reductions in morbidity and mortality, including a >99% decline in polio incidence since 1988, with eradication on the horizon, and a 78% decline in measles-associated mortality from 2000 to 2008 With the introduction of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine, HepB vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), and rotavirus vaccine into many countries’ routine vaccination schedules, further reductions in morbidity and mortality are expected. However, based on an annual global birth cohort of approximately 130 million, an estimated 23 million infants worldwide still do not receive the benefits of routine vaccination (i.e., 3 doses of DTP during the first year of life). The Global Immunization Vision and Strategy (GIVS), developed in 2005 by WHO and UNICEF, assists countries in strengthening immunization programs and vaccinating more persons. GIVS aims to achieve 90% national 3-dose DTP (DTP3) coverage by age 12 months in all countries, and 80% coverage in every district or equivalent administrative unit by 2010 (and to sustain these levels through 2015). This report summarizes global routine vaccination coverage during 2000–2009 and progress toward achieving GIVS goals.