WHO Vaccines and the History of Vaccines for Children

The Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program is a federally funded program that helps to provide vaccines to children at no cost whose families otherwise could not afford them. The VFC program was established in response to a measles resurgence that resulted in 55,000 cases in the United States. The program was created in 1993 in response to low immunization coverage.

Today the Vaccines for Children Program provides vaccines for at least 17 different diseases; it has prevented diseases, saved lives and improved free vaccine availability worldwide.

VFC aims to save lives by protecting children against serious illnesses. Through the use of WHO vaccines the program has moved one step closer to eliminating some of the world’s most devastating diseases. The program directs investments toward new vaccines, as well as diagnostic and health technologies.

Challenges for Safe and Efficient Vaccination for Children

One of the most crucial modern health tools is WHO vaccines. It saves up to three million lives annually. Vaccines are vital. However, children globally continue to miss out on the benefits of this program. Below are some of the biggest challenges preventing safe and efficient vaccination for children and what can be done to combat them:

Transportation

Getting the vaccines to children who live in the interior regions of a country and hard-to-reach geographic locations can be very challenging. Healthcare workers often experience severe difficulties in providing vaccines, which makes the journey long and risky. Lack of infrastructure and delays in the delivery of vaccines often result in spoilage. For vaccines to maintain their efficacy they need to be stored and transported at controlled temperatures, which adds even more challenges. Portable and durable cold chain equipment is a must for the transportation of WHO vaccines worldwide. Innovations throughout the years have improved shipments and helped make these challenges easier.

Safety

The safety and efficacy of immunizations still pose a significant risk and are a top priority for every nation. The three major aspects of safety include:

• The composition of the vaccine

• The administration of the vaccine

• The surveillance and evaluation of the program

Out of the 12 billion injections given each year, one billion WHO vaccines are rejected as part of the immunization program. Unsafe injections can result in the transmission of pathogens and other diseases. So to avoid this risk, each vaccine developed should be protected and monitored throughout the cold chain to ensure it does not cause greater damage to human life.

Credibility

Licensure and recommended requirements slow down the vaccination approval processes. It generally takes years before a vaccine can reach a certain efficacy rate through clinical trials and be approved for human use. This is obviously problematic. Pathogens often mutate within the clinical trial period and this reduces the effectiveness of the vaccines.

Resources

For many WHO vaccines to be fully effective, multiple doses are required over time. Some vaccines are combined in a single injection for efficiency and convenience. Therefore, each vaccine should be designed to be capable of successfully adding other compounds to it. Developing nations have faster population growth and a lack of infrastructure, which often makes it difficult for vaccines (and various dosages) to be distributed and administered. Chemical incompatibility is also a challenge due to the combining of various antigens. Limited resources to handle the complexity of the vaccines, with regard to administering the proper or multiple doses, is a one of the greatest challenges.

Temperature Monitoring Vaccine Cold Chain

To maintain effectiveness, WHO vaccines must be stored, transported and handled properly. Improper handling of vaccines may result in:

•  Vaccines that are unsafe and may pose health risk

• Wasted resources (unviable vaccines) resulting in the need to re-vaccinate

• Decreased potency or minimal protection against the disease.

Vaccine Cold Chain

The vaccine cold chain refers to the required temperature range at which the product is required to be kept at all times during the entire lifecycle of the product—from compounding, production and manufacturing to distribution, storage and delivery to the end-use patient. All along this cold chain, stakeholder and each destination should maintain and monitor the vaccine's optimal range temperature. The ideal temperature is determined by the manufacturer’s SOP.

Excessive cold and intense light are enemies of vaccines and can reduce the effectiveness. Once the potency of a vaccine has been lost it cannot be restored.

Vaccines must be shipped and stored at an optimal temperature range determined by the manufacturer’s standard operating procedure (SOP).

There are numerous temperature monitoring options from which to choose that help to ensure safe vaccine delivery and safeguard the product.