To celebrate World Immunization Week, an initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) invited Ding-Shinn Chen, an academic authority on Hepatitis B; Dr. Li-min Huang, the Convener of the Immunization Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP); and Dr. Ping-Ing Lee, the Director-General of the Taiwan Immunization Vision and Strategy (TIVS), to speak at the “Vaccinate for Good Health” press conference on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 to discuss the topic of vaccinations from an expert point-of-view.  Dr. Tzou-Yien Lin, the Deputy Minister of the Department of Health and an authority on pediatric infections was also in attendance to address national prevention measures against the current H7N9 virus and the R&D behind the development of its vaccine.

Taiwan has been actively participating in World Immunization Week. This year’s campaign, which runs from April 24 to 30, 2013, focuses on promoting the importance of timely vaccinations. According to the statistics compiled by Taiwan CDC, the immunization rate for children aged below 3 who have completed the recommended immunization is more than 94.1%. Over 96% of children have been completed the primary course of all the recommended vaccines and more than 92% have received requisite booster shots. Also, over 97% of new elementary school enrollees under three have received all the recommended immunizations. According to enrollment reports for elementary schools, an impressive 98.24% of newly enrolled students have received all three recommended doses of hepatitis B vaccine, which is substantially higher than the other countries in the Western Pacific Region where, according to the WHO, only 7.24% of newly enrolled students have done so.

Dr. Feng-Yee Chang, Taiwan CDC Director-General said that, recently countries around the world have been developing global measles elimination programs. The completion rate for vaccines against measles and polio, congenital rubella syndrome, neonatal tetanus, and MMR for preschool-aged children in Taiwan among the children born in 2011 who have received all three doses of the 5-in-1 vaccine is as high as 97.3%, while 98.1% of the children born in 2010 have received their first dose of the MMR vaccine. Taiwan is at a critical point in the global fight to eradicate measles, but to wipe out the scourge sooner while sustaining high completion rates of immunization schedules requires us to expedite the completion of incomplete vaccination cases within high-risk groups and check vaccine records for young children entering kindergarten upon enrollment. The sooner the immunization statuses of young children are known, the easier it is to follow up on necessary scheduled vaccinations.

In addition, international trends have been moving toward the use of new or combination vaccines. Taiwan has also introduced the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) immunization plan like other European countries to reduce incidences of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and serious complications of infection in young children. This year from March onwards, we hope to achieve the highest percentage of full immunizations among two to five-year-olds and large-scale vaccinations have already seen nasopharyngeal infection rates decline in young children, which will induce herd immunity that will subsequently benefit the elderly. Taiwan CDC advises households with children to comply with immunization recommendations.

Deemed by the WHO and other countries as an important aspect of disease prevention, vaccination is the most cost-effective preventative method within the three levels of prevention and five core areas of public health. International air travel and the constant movement of people across the world increase the risk of disease transmission. As a hub of international activity, Taiwan should take on the responsibility of protecting the health of the global community by echoing the response of the WHO, implementing its vaccination policy and promoting various immunization practices to continue the success of Taiwan’s disease prevention efforts.