28 Apr World Immunisation Week

VACCINES HAVE BROUGHT US CLOSER AND WILL BRING US CLOSER AGAIN.

For years, vaccines have helped us connect. They have not only protected our health, but they have also let us be human and allowed our future to flourish. When people are equitably protected by safe and effective vaccines, this will help end the COVID-19 pandemic so that we can finally be together again.

Supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Immunization Week (April 24-30) brings together a diverse coalition of partners, including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,

annually to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages in all regions of the world against vaccine-preventable disease.

This year’s theme, Vaccines Bring Us Closer, aims to unify health and immunization partners, organizations, and individuals around the story of how all vaccines bring us closer to the moments, people and goals we care most about. Not only will vaccines bring us closer to good health and wellbeing – they will bring us closer to a brighter future of seeing friends, moving around freely, equal education, stronger economies, and so much more.

Supported by the World Health Organization and a wide range of partners, including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. To visit WHO’s World Immunization Week campaign page, please click here. #VaccinesWork

DOING WHAT WE LOVE WITH THOSE WE LOVE.

• We have sacrificed so much to keep our loved ones and community safe from COVID-19: family reunions, hugs from loved ones, meals with friends and colleagues.
• Now, vaccines offer us the clearest path back to normal. First, vaccines will protect health workers so they can protect us. When people are equitably protected by safe and effective vaccines, this will help end the COVID-19 pandemic so that we can finally be closer to each other again.
• Thanks to decades of research and advances in vaccine science and technology during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are better prepared to handle diseases past, present and future.

A WORLD WHERE NO ONE SUFFERS OR DIES FROM A VACCINE-PREVENTABLE DISEASE.

• Vaccines are one of the greatest scientific innovations of all time. In the past century, they have brought us closer to ending polio and helped us eradicate smallpox. Thanks to vaccines, today billions of people live healthy lives protected from vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough.
• In just the last 30 years, child deaths have decreased by over 50%, thanks in large part to vaccines. Vaccines now help protect against more than 20 diseases, from pneumonia to cervical cancer to Ebola.
• Still, millions of children miss out on basic childhood vaccines every year. Increasing access to vaccines everywhere is the best way to give every child a healthy start to life and protect against preventable diseases from birth into old age.

A HEALTHIER, MORE PROSPEROUS WORLD.

• In today’s interconnected world, an outbreak anywhere is a threat everywhere. Vaccines are one of the best tools we have to improve health and wellbeing around the world.
• Immunization helps children grow into healthy adults. Vaccinated, healthy children can attend school and reap the benefits of education, and their parents are able to participate in the workforce, putting communities on the path to greater economic prosperity.
• Immunization also reaches more people than any other health service, connecting families with health care systems and ensuring everyone has access to the care they need.

Making vaccines, tests and medicines available can take a long time, even when there’s a health emergency like COVID -19. To ensure rapid access for all, the World Health Organization has developed the Emergency Use Listing – EUL – and this video explains how EUL works.

To visit WHO’s World Immunization Week campaign page, including WHO’s ‘Vaccine Explained’ series featuring illustrated articles on vaccine development and distribution and to learn more about vaccines from the earliest of research stages to their rollout in countries, please click here.

To check your eligibility for a COVID-19 vaccination, please visit www.covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/eligibility and call the Timboon Clinic on 5558 6088 to book. You can book for your annual flu vaccination at the Timboon Clinic by calling 5558 6088 or with our Community Health Nurse, Amanda Nash, on 5558 6000.

#VaccinesWork