By: Jackson Su, Head of Vaccines, APAC, Takeda
Immunisation is a global health and development success story, saving millions of lives every year. Vaccines have been around since the late 1700s, but the emergence of COVID-19 sparked a larger conversation surrounding vaccines and access.
Despite tremendous progress, far too many people around the world – including nearly 20 million infants each year – have insufficient access to vaccines.
This year’s World Immunisation Week celebration, themed ‘Long Life for All’, aims to highlight the need for collective action and to advocate the use of vaccines to protect communities against vaccine-preventable diseases.
The Undisputable Benefits of Immunisation
Vaccines provide life-saving protection
Thanks to technological advancements, people have access to vaccine information at their fingertips. However, they are also plagued by misinformation that leads to vaccine hesitancy, posing a significant threat.
Vaccination is imperative to keeping individuals healthy. Vaccines stimulate one’s immune system and prepare it to fight certain diseases.
At high efficacy rates of 50 per cent and above, vaccines are an essential cost-effective health policy measure that prevents contagious, debilitating, or deadly diseases such as polio, tetanus, and measles. Coupled with proper sanitation and good hygiene practices, infectious diseases can be prevented.
For example, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has led to a 90 per cent reduction in the incidence of cervical cancer in girls who were vaccinated before the age of 17.
Cervical cancer, which is mainly caused by infection from HPV – a sexually transmitted virus, is the second most common type of cancer amongst women in Southeast Asia (SEA).
Image source: iStock
Hepatitis B would also be a common threat if not for vaccines. There are about 18 million people in SEA infected with the Hepatitis B virus (HBV), which leads to inflammation of the liver.
Over 1 million deaths have been caused by hepatitis B globally. While there are treatments to mitigate the damage to a chronic patient’s liver, there is currently no cure for Hepatitis B. As such, being vaccinated against it is crucial to protect oneself against the disease.
Additionally, Hepatitis B can lead to liver failure and liver cancer – both of which are vaccine-preventable diseases, but when diagnosed, a patient’s treatment options are limited to transplant and surgery, and the latter, with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy.
Parents want to keep their children safe and healthy for as long as they are able to, and this starts with vaccination. Childhood immunisation programmes have prevented over three million deaths globally, and a study estimates that 120 million deaths will be averted amongst those born between 2000 and 2030 thanks to vaccination.
However, despite strong data proving the benefits of childhood immunisation, there is widespread ‘fake news’ surrounding vaccination due to myths such as vaccines being the cause of autism.
Vaccines reduce financial burdens
Image source: iStock
Beyond its medical benefits, the rollout of vaccinations that followed the COVID-19 outbreak helped reduce infections, hospital admissions, and deaths, leading to eased pressure on healthcare capacities and the gradual opening of economies.
This was highly significant given that the pandemic had created disruptions to the global economy with a report placing the overall economic losses of fifteen Asian countries at $1.7 trillion in the combined gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020.
Immunisation programmes are a country’s long-term investment. According to the United Nations Development Programme, countries with higher vaccination rates are expected to have faster economic recovery rates with over $7 billion increase in global GDP per every million people vaccinated. Vaccination also prevents expensive out-of-pocket treatment costs for individuals.
For example, tuberculosis (TB), a vaccine-preventable bacterial infection of the lungs, is a disease that can contribute largely to one’s financial burden of disease.
At an average total cost of almost 40 percent of reported household income in low- and middle-income countries, patients have resulted to taking loans to pay for the cost of their direct and indirect TB treatments.
Dengue fever, another vaccine-preventable disease and the fastest spreading mosquito-borne viral disease, causes an overall annual economic burden of $950 million in SEA.
As vaccines prevent communicable diseases, healthcare spending on disease treatment is reduced for both public and private payors alike. Prioritising public health brings about a positive impact on the economy and vice versa. A healthy population contributes to and enhances the economy, and in return, economic growth enables funding for investments that improve health, and so on and so forth.
Tackling Challenging Infectious Diseases
Scientists are continuously finding ways to overcome vaccine-preventable diseases, and as they are further researched, developed, and advanced, illnesses and diseases that have plagued humanity throughout history will be gradually eradicated.
At Takeda, our purpose is to create better health for people and a brighter future for the world. As a global biopharmaceutical leader, we take on big challenges that require new ways of thinking based on the unique needs of patients.
For more than 70 years, Takeda has supplied vaccines to help protect the health of people in Japan. Today, Takeda’s global vaccine business is applying innovation to tackle some of the world’s most challenging infectious diseases, such as dengue, COVID-19, pandemic influenza, and Zika.
Takeda partnered with the Government of Japan, Novavax and Moderna to help accelerate the availability of COVID-19 vaccines in Japan. We imported and distributed a total of 100 million COVID-19 doses in 2021 and 2022 and we will continue delivering safe and effective vaccines in the fight against COVID-19.
Additionally, Takeda is developing a live-attenuated tetravalent dengue vaccine candidate in an effort to help protect children and adults from symptomatic dengue and also help address the massive global burden of dengue, including key priorities for dengue control such as protection regardless of previous dengue exposure and prevention of hospitalisation.
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