The Global Vaccine Action Plan set six key immunization targets with deadlines at the end of 2014 or 2015. Just one of these six is on track to be achieved. Some have been missed multiple times before. The targets each relate to different vaccines and diseases, but common threads run throughout: failure to extend vaccination services to people who cannot currently access them at all, and failure to strengthen the healthcare system so that all doses of vaccine are reliably provided.
There is some reason for hope. There has been success in introducing new vaccines, and positive achievements in some countries. Major change is possible. The Global Vaccine Action Plan was created to end the inequity in vaccination worldwide, and hence to save millions of lives. This need remains as important and urgent as ever. It is not acceptable that the plan is failing to deliver at the scale that is required.
This report establishes five areas for priority action:
• Three years after its start date, implementation of the Global Vaccine Action Plan is patchy and slow. All countries and organizations that have committed to this endeavour should re-examine the level and nature of their contributions, and urgently make the improvements necessary to achieve results.
• Poor quality and use of data is substantially impeding programme management and improvement.
• The affordability and supply of vaccines need to be urgently examined. Each may be causing a significant problem for a large number of countries, and the current lack of proper information hinders understanding and corrective action.
• Basic failures of integration mean that healthcare workers are repeatedly missing easy opportunities to offer vaccinations when people attend clinics with other problems.
• Vaccine delivery is impeded by disruptive situations, including war and major disease outbreaks (such as Ebola, currently). Such situations will always exist. Vaccines must be delivered despite them.
The SAGE recommends that countries, their technical partner agencies and donors address this report and its recommendations with the greatest possible urgency.
