Today, a good part of the world's child population does not receive the basic vaccination recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the price of vaccines It is one of the reasons, about which, it seems, does not pay too much attention.
Last week, the WHO Executive Board was held and, among other issues, the “Collaboration for the Decade of Vaccines” project was discussed, but Doctors Without Borders points out that there are deficiencies in the document that will guide the international community in relation to the vaccines during the next years.
That so many children are still not covered by immunization programs has, according to Doctors Without Borders, much to do with the fact that the cost of vaccinating a child has increased by 2,700% in the last ten years. That is why it is not explained that the vaccine plan for the next decade does not aim to reduce prices.
The reason for this very high increase in the price of "basic packages" of vaccination is that these packages include new, more expensive vaccines, especially two against pneumococcal disease and rotavirus, which together represent almost 75% of the total price of Vaccination of a child.
And although the high price of vaccines poses a considerable threat to the sustainability of immunization programs, the WHO plan does not include any measures to monitor prices.
Among the measures proposed by Doctors Without Borders is to accelerate the entry into the market of emerging producers that would foster competition.
If the money allocated to the improvement plan goes only to buy the vaccines, other important aspects remain untouched, such as the problems of making vaccines inaccessible to many communities. The lack of adaptation of many vaccines for use in developing countries should also be addressed.
Definitely, Doctors Without Borders shows concern because the price of vaccines makes many children unprotected in the world. And do not be surprised that, in these times of galloping crisis, there are more "cuts" that affect us in this regard and eliminate certain vaccines in our environment (as in fact it is already being done).
