Immunization Agenda 2030: A Global Strategy to Leave No One Behind

Immunization is a global health and development success story, saving millions of lives every year. We now have vaccines to prevent more than 20 life-threatening diseases, helping people of all ages live longer, healthier lives. Immunization is the foundation of the primary health care system and an indisputable human right. It’s also one of the best health investments money can buy. Yet despite tremendous progress, far too many people around the world – including nearly 20 million infants each year – have insufficient access to vaccines. In some countries, progress has stalled or even reversed, and there is a real risk that complacency will undermine past achievements.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded the world of the power of vaccines to fight disease, save lives, and create a healthier, safer, and more prosperous future. Moving forward, strong immunization systems will be needed to ensure that people everywhere are protected against COVID-19 and other diseases.

The World Health Assembly, with the support of countries and partners, has endorsed a new global vision and strategy, called the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030), to address these challenges over the next decade and save over 50 million lives.

IA2030 envisions a world where everyone, everywhere, at every age, fully benefits from vaccines to improve health and well-being. It aims to maintain hard-won gains in immunization, recover from the disruptions caused by COVID-19, and achieve even more – by leaving no one behind, in any situation or at any stage of life.

IA2030 has been developed through a “bottom-up” co-creation process, with close engagement of countries to ensure that the vision, strategic priorities and goals are aligned with country needs. As an adaptive and flexible strategy, the IA2030 framework is designed to be tailored by countries to their local context, and to be revised throughout the decade as new needs and challenges emerge.

The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework includes tailored indicators to enable the use of data for action to continuously improve immunization programs at all levels. Underneath IA2030’s three Impact Goals are seven Impact Goal Indicators to monitor progress across country, regional and global levels. The M&E framework provides strategic priority objectives and indicator options for regions and countries to inform the development of their own M&E Frameworks.

IA2030 goals are designed to inspire action for implementation and support efforts to improve health security, universal health coverage, access and equity for immunization and innovation.

For countries, this could mean setting country-specific targets and milestones for the decade toward those goals. For regions, this could mean contextualising global goals and setting specific targets and milestones in Regional Vaccination Action Plans. For partner organisations, this could mean aligning organizational strategies and indicators to support the attainment of IA2030 goals.

The IA 2030 strategy—to extend the benefits of vaccines to everyone, everywhere—is underpinned by four core principles: it puts people in the centre, is led by countries, implemented through broad partnerships, and driven by data. The IA2030 strategy systematically applies the core principles across each of the strategic priorities.

Each strategic priority has strategic priority goals as the basis for evaluating progress. These goals complement existing disease-specific goals, broader health goals, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The strategic priority goals mirror the ambition of these existing commitments and aim to galvanize efforts to achieve important gains in immunization over the coming decade.

Immunization is playing a critical role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Immunization reaches more people than any other health and social service, making it the foundation of primary health care systems and a key driver toward universal health coverage. This makes immunization critical to SDG3 – to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Because health is so fundamental to development, IA2030 will also contribute—either directly or indirectly—to 13 of the other SDGs.

Immunization is an investment for the future, creating a healthier, safer and more prosperous world for all.