Global Vaccination Summit in Brussels on Sept. 12

08 / 08 / 2019

By Marwa Nassar - -

The Global Vaccination summit – due to be held in Brussels on September 12 – is meant to promote vaccination as the most successful public health measure that saves millions of lives every year.The World Health Organization (WHO) declared vaccine misinformation as one of the main health threats for 2019.

The summit will be held under the patronage of the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The overall objective is to give high level visibility and political endorsement to the topic of vaccination and issue a statement to endorse and promote the benefits of vaccination as the most successful public health measure that saves millions of lives every year.

The summit will demonstrate EU leadership for global commitment to vaccination, boost political commitment towards eliminating vaccine preventable diseases and engage political leaders and leaders from scientific, medical, industry, philanthropic and civil society.

The Summit will bring together around 400 participants from around the globe, including high-level political decision makers, health ministers, UN organizations, NGOs, academia representatives, renowned researchers and healthcare professionals, vaccine industry CEOs, celebrities and social media influencers who actively support vaccination.

Vaccination is the most successful public health measure of modern times. Thanks to widespread vaccination, smallpox has been eradicated, Europe made polio-free, and elimination of other diseases on the horizon. Vaccination prevents an estimated 2.5 million deaths worldwide each year and reduces disease-specific treatment costs. Despite its brilliant track record, several EU and neighboring countries are currently facing unprecedented outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases due to insufficient vaccination coverage rates. Unequal access to vaccines and in some places waning of public confidence in vaccination are a cause for concern and a major challenge for public health experts.