VACCINATION WEEK / April 24-30, 2026
Vaccination is one of the most successful, effective, and cost-effective healthcare interventions, saving lives and preventing disability for millions of people every year. Vaccines protect both vaccinated individuals and the community.
Vaccination Week, celebrated every year during the last week of April, aims to raise public awareness about the importance of vaccination and to ensure that more children and adults are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases, thus preventing sequelae and deaths caused by these diseases.
This year's Immunization Week, with the theme "Vaccines work in every generation" as determined by the World Health Organization (WHO), emphasizes that vaccines protect the health of individuals, families, and communities for generations and secure our future.
Vaccination Week provides a significant opportunity to celebrate the achievements of immunization, highlight its impact on lives saved, and support efforts to strengthen routine vaccination programs.
The Expanded Immunization Programme (EIP), an initiative launched by the WHO in 1974 and implemented in our country since 1981, is a global effort to ensure that every child, regardless of geographic location or socioeconomic status, has equal access to life-saving vaccines. The EIP aims to combat and prevent various infectious diseases through systematic vaccination programs. Within this program, our country provides vaccinations against 13 childhood diseases (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, rubella, mumps, tuberculosis, polio, hepatitis B, hepatitis A, chickenpox, etc.) in childhood., Haemophilus influenzae Vaccination is administered against type B and pneumococcal diseases.
Over the past 50 years, the GBP has made significant progress and achieved important successes that have reshaped the global health landscape. Many diseases that caused major epidemics and deaths throughout human history are no longer seen today thanks to vaccination. The eradication of smallpox in 1977 is one of the most important of these achievements.
For the second time in history, following the eradication of smallpox, the world is on the verge of globally eliminating another disease: a major childhood infectious disease. poliomyelitis Thanks to widespread vaccination efforts worldwide against polio, the disease has been brought to the brink of eradication. The last poliomyelitis case in our country was seen in 1998, and no cases have been detected in subsequent years. The World Health Organization European Region, which includes our country, adopted a policy on June 21, 2002.’Polio-Free Zone’ He has received his certificate.
The Maternal-Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) Elimination Program was launched in 1994, and since April 2009, Türkiye has been among the countries that have eliminated neonatal tetanus.
Thanks to diphtheria vaccination programs, diphtheria has not been seen in our country since 2011, as in many countries around the world.
In our country, significant reductions in measles cases have been recorded thanks to intensive vaccination efforts carried out within the scope of the Measles Elimination Program, which has been in effect since 2002. However, the measles virus is still circulating globally. Therefore, it is extremely important that all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children, who may play a role in the continued circulation of the virus, are vaccinated with a measles-containing vaccine.
The vaccines used in our country are produced in accordance with the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) rules approved by the WHO and tested in international reference laboratories. Furthermore, the vaccines are also tested in our National Reference Laboratories before being made available for use. Cold chain monitoring of the vaccines continues from the production stage until they are administered to individuals. In our country, vaccines are tracked at all stages using an electronic tracking system (Vaccine Tracking System) and are stored within the appropriate temperature range. The temperatures of vaccine refrigerators and cold storage facilities are also monitored electronically in real-time to prevent cold chain breaks. This ensures that vaccines are delivered safely to individuals.
Vaccination is vital for every individual; every individual has the right to a healthy life. Vaccinating their children is one of the most important responsibilities of parents.
