This blog highlights the significant impact of vaccines on global health. It traces the history of vaccination from Edward Jenner's groundbreaking discovery using cowpox to prevent smallpox, to the eradication of smallpox and the reduction of diseases like polio, measles, diphtheria, and tetanus. It also discusses current challenges such as funding crises, misinformation, and vaccine hesitancy, while emphasising the importance of vaccines in preventing future pandemics.

Today is one year to the day that the first person in the world, the UK’s own Margaret Keenan in Coventry, received an approved COVID-19 vaccine.

With health as a human right, universal and equitable access to the vaccines and therapeutics that are essential to achieve good health are a fundamental human right.

How we're reaching children and mothers in remote communities in Ethiopia with life-saving vaccines and other essential healthcare.