Measuring equitable delivery of vaccines

An elegant modelling study estimated that vaccination against ten infections, Haemophilus influenzae type b, hepatitis B, human papillomavirus, Japanese encephalitis, measles, Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A, rotavirus, rubella, Streptococcus pneumoniae and yellow fever, in 73 low and middle income countries will have prevented an estimated 20 million deaths, 500 million cases of illness, 9 million cases of long-term disability and 960 million years of disability from 2001 to 2020 [1]. [...]it was commendable that the 2019 Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award was presented to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for “providing sustained access to childhood vaccines around the globe, saving millions of lives, and highlighting the power of immunization to prevent disease”. By linking resourcing with increased equity of access, all vulnerable children, including those most difficult to reach, will be given higher prominence in recipient country health planning and service delivery. Measles can indeed be considered the “equity virus”: without vaccination, everyone gets measles, and without equitable health-care systems to deliver vaccination, measles will continue to present a threat to the most vulnerable [12]. [...]in a world where there is a coordinated global commitment to achieving Universal Health Coverage, measles incidence will be a sensitive marker of progress towards and achievement of this goal.