On the occasion of World and European Immunization Week, the Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF and the National Institute of Health called for vaccination and announced the distribution of tens of thousands of vaccines, including against whooping cough, to doctors and vaccination centers

These days, under the auspices of the World Health Organization, European and World Vaccination Week are taking place with the aim of raising awareness of the importance and importance of vaccination in the prevention of infectious diseases. At the same time, the Minister of Health announced the distribution of extraordinary supplies of combined vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio to ensure the significantly increased demand compared to previous years.

Vaccination against whooping cough

The latest emergency supply of vaccines secured in France is being distributed to doctors and vaccination centers these days. Since the beginning of the year, more than 50,000 adults have been vaccinated with pertussis vaccines beyond the scope of the child population, which is twice as much as compared to the entire previous year, but we are also observing an increase in interest among children. It is still true that vaccination is necessary especially for the smallest children. Therefore, their vaccination is part of regular vaccination. Vaccination is also strongly recommended for pregnant women between the 27th and 36th week of pregnancy, which through the placenta will also provide immunity to newly born children, who are thus protected until vaccination in the first months of life.

“Vaccination is one of the greatest successes of modern medicine and acts as a basic preventive tool in preventing complications, a severe course, long-term consequences of the disease and, in many cases, even death. Since its discovery, it has saved the lives of hundreds of millions of people and its contribution is indisputable. The greatest health threat in the field of infections today is not the diseases themselves, but the refusal of vaccination conditioned very often by unfounded and misleading information. These reduce citizens’ confidence in vaccination and help the spread of infections that would have minimal health impact in the case of full vaccination. Therefore, I thank everyone who participates in education in this area, and I am glad that these days we are sending tens of thousands more combined vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio, which are in great demand,” said Minister of Health Vlastimil Válek.

50 years since the launch of the WHO Expanded Program on Immunization

This year is also the 50th anniversary of the launch of the WHO Expanded Program on Immunization initiative, the aim of which was to expand vaccination programs to all countries of the world and make vaccination against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles and tuberculosis available to all children in the world. This program has seen great success.

“The WHO immunization program is an example of a successful global campaign to protect and promote public health, saving at least 3.5-5 million lives each year. We have vaccines to prevent more than twenty life-threatening diseases. Vaccinations help people of all ages live longer and healthier lives. Immunization is one of the greatest modern achievements of medicine. Vaccines are safe and most childhood vaccines have been used for decades. It is sad to see that in the 21st century false information about vaccinations is causing loss of life,” said Zsófia Pusztai, WHO representative and head of the WHO Office in the Czech Republic.

“Vaccination is one of humanity’s most important achievements. Thanks to vaccinations, more children survive and thrive, protected from preventable diseases. We must continue to work together to ensure that every child, including children who are displaced, has access to vaccinations and reaches their full potential.” said Yulia Oleinik, head of the UNICEF office for supporting solutions to the refugee situation in the Czech Republic.

Whooping cough continues to spread in the Czech Republic

According to data from the State Institute of Health, whooping cough continues to spread in the Czech Republic, although the number of hospitalizations varies in units of percent of those infected. The State Health Institute regularly publishes weekly data and has so far registered 956 new infections in this calendar week. There are plenty of medicines and vaccination is essential especially for pregnant women between 27 and 36 weeks, small children and adults in close contact with small children.

“European Immunization Week and World Vaccination Week are the perfect opportunity to remind the importance of vaccination in protecting public health. Not only in this area, SZÚ greatly appreciates the cooperation with the WHO office in the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Health and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. It is important to remember that vaccination is an important part of prevention and protection of health and life. In the current situation with a high incidence of whooping cough, the priority is to protect, above all, newborns and infants, i.e. unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated children, to restore the high vaccination coverage of the child population and to support the vaccination of pregnant women to prevent illness and death of the smallest children.” concludes SZÚ director Barbora Macková.

The team of the Ministry of Health in cooperation with Sanofi and the distributor secured three extraordinary deliveries of pertussis vaccines thanks to intensive cooperation. Almost 100,000 vaccines for vaccinating pregnant women and adults are available to health professionals. Vaccines are delivered to surgeries according to the date the order was created. Any medical facility (surgery, vaccination center) can order vaccines for pregnant women, and these orders are handled on a priority basis.