Shot@Life Newsletter: March 2021
Take a look into the roundup of what Shot@Life and our UN partners have been up to this past month!
Advocating for Immunizations One Year into COVID-19
Champion Cynthia Levin reflects on advocating for global vaccines at Shot@Life’s Summit a year ago at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Champion Spotlight: Jessica Garcia
From gender equality to vaccine advocacy, Shot@Life Champion Jessica Garcia is a changemaker working for the protection of girls and women in all spheres so they can be #EqualEverywhere.
Our 10th Champion Summit Highlights
Shot@Life’s 10th Champion Summit marked our first virtual summit as well as a record of over 185 champions reaching out to 180 congressional offices on the hill.
Shot@Life Newsletter: October 2020
While the whole world is anxiously anticipating the approval and rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine, we continue to advocate for ensuring access to current lifesaving vaccines against measles, polio, rotavirus and pneumonia.
Reflections on Virtual Advocacy: What to Expect for Summit
Here's a sneak peak into what you can expect from our first virtual summit for Shot@Life champions this year!
Shot@Life Newsletter: February 2021
As we usher in a new year, Shot@Life is proud to reflect on the success made in ensuring equitable access to vaccines for children around the world.
“Immunity Inequality” Will Loom Large, If We Let It
The pandemic has shed a light on the disparities in immunization inequality, an issue that will continue to persist if we refuse to take action now.
Hope for Polio Eradication: Using a Gender Lens
Polio is on the edge of being eradicated globally with just two countries left who suffer from polio cases.
A Look at the Biden Administration’s Key Players – Tackling Vaccines and Beyond
As a new Biden administration takes office in the United States, it will be tasked with minimizing the spread of COVID-19 by advancing an equitable distribution of vaccines to the public.
Broadening Our Impact: How to Recruit New Champions
Looking for opportunities to increase your impact with Shot@Life in the new year? One of the easiest and most effective ways is to recruit new champions!
5 Reasons to Support Vaccines in 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated the immediate need for stronger funding in global immunization programs.
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As #WorldImmunizationWeek draws to a close, we’re highlighting one of the real immunization success stories of recent decades: the incredible progress made in the fight against #polio.
From 1,000 children paralyzed every day in the 1980s, we’ve seen a 99.9% decline in cases and stand on the brink of ending this disease forever.
But we can’t stop here. We need to reaffirm our commitment to going the distance, make sure life-saving vaccines reach the last mile, and finally make polio a disease of the past.
Apr 30
It’s World Immunization Week!
Vaccines are one of the most remarkable – and impactful – medical inventions of all time. In the last 50 years, global immunization programs have saved more than 154 million lives.
That’s one life saved every 10 seconds, for five decades.
Today, we’re at the brink of ending polio, have protected countless millions from measles, and can turn the tide against malaria – all thanks to the power of immunization.
But it’s up to us to expand access to vaccines so that every child, no matter where they live, is protected.
#WorldImmunizationWeek
Apr 24
Fighting polio isn’t just about preventing and treating cases. It’s about catching outbreaks before they can spread.
But did you know the early warning systems developed for polio also help catch outbreaks of novel and emerging disease threats?
Check out this episode of Global Dispatches to learn how: https://www.globaldispatches.org/how-existing-disease-surveillance
Apr 21
Thanks to international partnership and U.S. leadership, we’ve made enormous progress against polio – last year, there were just 39 cases of wild polio. But we can’t stop now and risk a comeback.
Ask YOUR Senators to commit to polio eradication today: https://bit.ly/senate-polio-27.
Apr 15
Just three weeks left until World Immunization Week (#WIW).
For over 200 years, vaccines have protected generation after generation. Vaccines have been so successful that many of the diseases that families once feared are now rarely seen in many parts of the world.
Let`s keep up the effort to ensure fewer children die from preventable illnesses, adolescents are protected against diseases that threaten their future, and older generations enjoy longer, healthier lives.
Apr 6
The WHO puts it plainly: delaying climate action undermines decades of public health progress.
In Mexico, for example, 80% of the population is at health risk from extreme weather, and a whopping 35% of diseases may be directly linked to environmental exposure.
Malaria, dengue, respiratory disease, malnutrition—all of it is getting worse as the planet warms. We can`t achieve global immunization goals on a destabilized planet. Climate action = health advocacy.
Apr 2
This #WorldTBDay, we are close to the first tuberculosis (TB) vaccine in more than a century.
TB may seem like a disease of the past, but it remains a leading infectious cause of death worldwide. Keep watching for a timeline of humanity`s oldest and deadliest disease.
Mar 24
South Kordofan, Sudan hadn’t received vaccines in nearly three years. Not because the vaccines don’t exist, but because a siege blocked them. This month, 18 metric tons finally got through, and nearly 25,000 children will be given lifesaving vaccines this year.
Vaccines only work if they can be administered. This delivery is a breakthrough; somewhere in Sudan this month, a child received a measles vaccine for the first time in nearly three years.
Mar 17
Cervical cancer is a vaccine access problem. In a major development, India is joining the 160 other countries that are taking action against it—free HPV vaccines for adolescent girls, nationwide. When political will meets public health evidence, lives are saved.
India`s nationwide HPV rollout is a win for 1.4 billion people, for the girls and women of our future generations, and for the global fight to eliminate cervical cancer as a whole.
Mar 10
Polio isn’t fully gone yet. Outbreaks still happen in under-vaccinated communities, and when they do, the world needs to respond fast. That means having enough of the right vaccines, ready to go, anywhere on the planet.
This latest prequalification helps make that possible by adding another novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) manufacturer to the global supply chain—that means more backup, less risk of shortages, faster protection for kids when it matters most.
Mar 5
In a powerful demonstration of global coordination and scientific agility, the World Health Organization has swiftly updated the 2026-2027 Northern Hemisphere seasonal influenza vaccine to match the rapidly spreading subclade K variant.
After just 4 days of consultation through the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System, experts from around the world finalized the new composition—helping countries prepare with the best possible protection. Despite leaving WHO earlier this year, U.S. experts participated.
When viruses evolve quickly, rapid, evidence-based updates like this are essential—and global cooperation delivered again.
Mar 2
Good news alert! 🚨 Next-generation flu vaccines could prevent 18 billion cases and save 6.2 million lives by 2050 while also mitigating AMR.
Current flu vaccines work—but protection only lasts one season, and effectiveness varies. Next-gen vaccines aim to offer broader, longer-lasting protection across multiple strains, reaching high-risk groups more effectively.
46 next-generation vaccine candidates are already in clinical development. Science doesn’t stop. 💪
Feb 26
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