Now that we’re finally back to seeing real friends in the real world – with vaccines a hot topic - you might come across someone who doesn’t believe in the power of vaccines.
In fact, there are 5 million people in the UK who are sceptical about vaccines. And you might find yourself chilling (literally) in a pub garden, wanting to change their mind, but facing questions you really can’t answer.
So, this World Immunisation Week, we’re celebrating vaccines by answering those tricky questions. Read on to understand more about this amazing intervention.
Do vaccines really work?
Vaccination saves children’s lives – they’re one of the biggest success stories of modern medicine.
Around 2-3 million children survive every year because they have been vaccinated against dangerous diseases. And millions more are protected from disease and disability.
Plus, as the Covid-19 pandemic has made clear, vaccines don’t just prevent infectious disease, they allow us all to meet and work together safely. We’ve all come to understand how valuable that is.
Vaccinations are undeniably one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions. They work.
Are vaccines good bang for our buck?
Unbelievably, every £1 spent on a country’s vaccine programmes actually gives back £44 to the economy. Because once a child has had a vaccine, they’re more likely to reach adulthood and make their own contribution to society. With more people earning wages, a healthier population and fewer people needing treatment for illnesses they’re vaccinated against, money is saved.
Yes, vaccines are a great investment. They’re a small aid intervention whose knock-on effects make future aid less necessary. So, vaccinating children to reduce their suffering is by itself worthwhile. But vaccines are revolutionary – they don’t just change people; they change systems too.
Clever, isn’t it?
And this return on investment only goes up when we’re talking about the coronavirus vaccine. It lets us go back to work, open our shops and pubs, and meet our loved ones again.
The key to helping our economy recover is ending the pandemic. And the key to ending the pandemic is a global vaccine rollout. Spending UK taxpayers’ money on sharing vaccines is the best investment in this country’s future, as well as a fair and compassionate move that we can all be proud of.
It's a win-win situation.
If children in other countries are vaccinated, that’s great. But it won’t make much difference to me, will it?
The fact is: no one is safe from coronavirus until everyone is safe. We need global vaccination programmes that protect UK citizens and people in poorer countries, otherwise new and dangerous variants could develop. So, as well as helping people in poorer countries, sharing our vaccines keeps us all safe.
We can do this.
More than 33 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine - part of the biggest inoculation programme the country has ever launched. This is huge!
These priority groups make up 99% of lives lost from coronavirus. We’ve already gone a long way towards easing the pressure on our NHS, keeping people safe, and getting back to normal life. That’s something to be proud of.
Here in the UK, there is light at the end of the tunnel. For billions of people in poorer countries that tunnel is just getting longer. The second wave is carving through communities while health workers put their lives on the line. With each day that passes more children are being pushed into poverty and out of school.
The UK has made a commitment to sharing its surplus doses with COVAX, which is a huge step. And soon enough, the UK is likely to have around 100 million more doses than we need. The vaccinations of our population are secure.
Access to vaccines should be based on reaching those who need them most. At home around the world that means health workers and the most vulnerable. It shouldn’t come down to the wealth of the country we are born in - but that’s what’s happening.
So what are we doing about it?
At Save the Children, we’re working to get children around the world vaccinated. But this is something that the world’s richest countries all have to work together to overcome. Because ever since the rise of vaccines, we’ve been battling the same issue. These miracle interventions becoming available, but only being affordable for the world’s richest countries
Which is why 20 million children under one year old are missing out on basic immunisation. That’s almost one child in seven across the world.
Most of these children live in the world’s poorest countries. And even within those countries, whether or not a child gets vaccinated depends on their parents’ income, and whether they live close to a major city.
We work in remote areas around the world training healthcare workers to vaccinate the children most in need. But we need to change the systems that are working against so many children.
That’s why, while we’re vaccinating as many children as we can, we’re also campaigning to make sure that money and systems are in place to make vaccines available for everyone who needs one. So that millions more children can stay safe, grow up healthy and change the future for good.
What can the UK do?
We’re a small island, but we do huge things for children everywhere. UK aid is a force for good in the world. That’s something to be proud of, not something we want to lose sight of.
Right now, vaccine nationalism is a difficult challenge we're facing. In the long run, that will be good for no-one because it will only prolong the pandemic. And this June, the UK will host the G7, a hugely influential position to be in.
We can help the international community back towards to a fairer system built on solidarity, where everyone does their bit for the global fight against the pandemic, and everyone benefits.
In times of crisis, the world needs Britain at its best – generous, forward-thinking, and compassionate.
