WHO calls for providing vaccines to all children, protecting adolescent girls from cervical cancer

Urges action to restore immunisation progress lost during the Coronavirus pandemic

- 

The World Health Organisation on Wednesday called on the countries in its Southeast Asia region to accelerate action to protect all children with lifesaving vaccines being offered under the childhood immunisation programme, focusing on those who have missed all or some doses, and protect all adolescent girls from cervical cancer.

“We should aim for a big catch-up to vaccinate all zero dose and partially-vaccinated children, and restore the immunisation progress lost during the (COVID-19) pandemic, protect all adolescent girls from cervical cancer and accelerate efforts to eliminate measles and rubella from WHO South-East Asia by 2026,” said Saima Wazed, regional director, WHO South-East Asia, in her inaugural address to the 15th meeting of the WHO SouthEast Asia Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (SEAR-ITAG).