24 – 30 April 2022
For over 2 centuries, vaccines have helped make the world safer – from the very first vaccine developed to protect against smallpox to the newest mRNA vaccines used to prevent severe cases of COVID-19. Vaccines protect us as individuals and help us protect each other as members of the global community. The 2022 theme for European Immunization Week (EIW) is “Long Life for All”. It aims to reinforce the importance of equitable and expanded access to vaccines, to contribute to a long and healthy life for everyone.
This year EIW brings together partners and collaborators across the WHO European Region to focus on the importance of vaccines to protect people of all ages and backgrounds against vaccine-preventable diseases, and to remember the seismic historical impact of vaccines. Much has been achieved, and progress in controlling many diseases has accelerated in the past few decades, but 2022 is also a crossroads that presents many challenges.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased politicization of vaccines and a decrease in childhood vaccination rates in several countries. Immunization services have been disrupted in Ukraine and all children who have fled the country will need access to routine childhood vaccines wherever they go. These challenges make the importance of universal access to vaccines clearer than ever. During EIW, WHO/Europe will work with its Member States and partners to create awareness about the benefits of vaccines and the risks of any decrease in vaccination rates.