Lagos, Nigeria – The World Health Organisation announced on Friday, April 24, 2026, that vaccines prevented more than 150 million deaths worldwide over the past 50 years.
Okay News reports that the World Health Organisation issued the data in a statement marking the start of World Immunisation Week, scheduled from April 24 to April 30. The agency noted that the public chose to protect their communities from diseases including measles, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, and rotavirus.
An assessment report for the Immunisation Agenda 2030, a global initiative led by the health agency, found that vaccination efforts over the past five years averted millions of deaths despite the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical instability, climate disruption, and limited financing. The report indicated that most global targets remain off track due to persistent gaps in routine coverage, equity, and outbreak prevention across many countries.
The United Nations health agency requested renewed commitments to build sustainable national programmes, strengthen integration with primary healthcare, and increase prioritisation by global health agencies and partners.
The World Health Organisation, along with the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) and the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), reported that an international initiative called The Big Catch-up reached an estimated 18.3 million children aged one to five across 36 countries since its launch in 2023.
The campaign provided 23 million doses of the inactivated polio vaccine to unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children, keeping the initiative on track to meet its goal of vaccinating at least 21 million children.
