Scale up immunisation for better resilience

Two and half year old Magret Waithera receives polio vaccine in the second phase at Moi Lane, a backstreet in Nairobi on July 19, 2021. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

As we marked World Immunisation Week last week, it was a good time to remind ourselves of some of the lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic. The crisis could provide useful lessons for longer-term change to build greater resilience.

When vaccination services are disrupted, even during emergencies, the risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks increases. Without vaccines, outbreaks of these diseases may result in increased illness, worsen malnutrition and even deaths among children, and further burden the health system already under pressure due to Covid-19.