14 Vaccines that are essential to our work

Vaccines are once again a hot-button discussion topic, driven in large part by harmful myths and misconceptions about the risk posed by childhood vaccinations (leading to very real and understandable parental anxieties). 

However, what the discourse misses is that there are dozens of fatal illnesses that in many countries (including the United States) have been all but eradicated thanks to this technology. We’re working to do the same in other countries where they continue to claim an unnecessary amount of young lives. Here’s what you need to know about 14 vaccine-preventable diseases that we’re working to address.

1. Cholera

We’re currently dealing with a global cholera outbreak. Over the last few years, cases have doubled and have left 1.1 billion people at risk. Even countries that had eradicated the disease, like Haiti, began experiencing outbreaks. 

One weapon we have against this threat, especially in areas with poor water and sanitation infrastructure, are vaccines. A two-dose vaccination can last for up to three years and has shown up to 85% efficacy in some studies.

2. Dengue

Last year was the worst on record for dengue cases, although preliminary data show that numbers will be even worse in 2024. Current outbreaks include Ethiopia, Kenya, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

Development of a dengue vaccine began in the 1920s, but it took nearly a century to get it on the market. The first vaccine was approved in 2018 and is on the WHO’s list of essential medications. Earlier this year, it prequalified another vaccine aimed at preventing all four types of the virus, which are endemic in over 100 countries.

3. Diphtheria

The diphtheria vaccine has been around in some form since 1913. According to the Center for Disease Control, the last reported case of diphtheria in the US was in 1997. 

In other countries, however, the upper-respiratory illness is on the rise, including a major outbreak across Africa. By the middle of 2024, there were nearly 41,000 suspected cases across just five countries (including Niger). Of these cases, 70% were in children under the age of 15.

4. Hepatitis

In 2022, only 45% of all babies born received the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of life — the standard recommendation from the WHO. Hepatitis B is one of the five main strains of the virus (the others are A, C, D, and E). All cause liver disease, but B and C are linked to approximately 3,000 deaths per day. Hepatitis A and E are also highly contagious via contaminated water.

Taken together, every country where Concern works has at least one form of endemic hepatitis. There’s currently an outbreak of Hepatitis E in Chad, largely affecting Sudanese refugees and Chadean returnees from Sudan. There are vaccines for Hepatitis A, B, and E, and research suggests that the risk and intensity of types C and D can be lowered with these immunizations as well.

5. Malaria

The WHO estimates that, in 2023, there were 236 million cases of malaria, with 597,000 deaths in 83 countries (20 of which are countries where Concern works). The burden of this is carried in Africa, which saw 94% of caseloads and 95% of deaths. The risks remain high in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Niger. 

Like many illnesses, children are also highly vulnerable — 76% of all malaria deaths in Africa that year happened in patients under the age of five (it can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy). Yet despite these high numbers, malaria is preventable via two different vaccines endorsed by the WHO in 2021 and 2023. These are now being incorporated into routine immunizations of children in high-risk areas, a move that is expected to save tens of thousands of lives.

6. Measles

Between 2000 and 2023, measles vaccinations prevented more than 60 million deaths around the world. Unfortunately, we’re slipping backwards. Pakistan, Iraq, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan are among the nations currently leading in global measles outbreaks. 

The measles vaccine is often administered in conjunction with vaccines for mumps and rubella, earning these routine inoculations the moniker MMR. It’s among the oldest and safest vaccines and costs less than $1 per child.

7. Meningitis

There’s actually a region in sub-Saharan Africa known as the “meningitis belt” owing to the high rates of this devastating and fatal — but preventable — infection. These countries include eight where Concern works: Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Ethiopia. 

While no universal vaccine exists to cover all of the strains of meningococcal illness, a vaccine aimed at meningococcal group A — which accounted for 80 to 85% of all cases in the meningitis belt — greatly reduced outbreaks of this particular type over the last decade. Other vaccines prevent groups A, C, W, and Y. 

8. Polio

In 1988, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution for the global eradication of polio, the launch of what’s known today as the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Since then, poliovirus cases have decreased by over 99% — from an estimated 350,000 cases in that year across over 125 countries to just six cases reported in 2021. The efforts eradicated poliovirus type 2 in 1999 and type 3 in 2020. 

However, poliovirus type 1 remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and a risk in other regions. Earlier this year, it was confirmed to be found in the wastewater of Gaza, which led to a mass immunization campaign. Additional cases have recently been confirmed in Chad, Niger, and Nigeria. 

9. Rotavirus

Rotaviruses are the most common cause of severe diarrhea in infants and children under 5 and a leading factor in child mortality. Twenty years ago, this varied collection of viruses was responsible for roughly 527,000 deaths. However, in 2006, two vaccines were licensed for use. The WHO recommended them as part of any country’s national immunization program in 2009. The results are striking: In Mexico, diarrhea-related deaths in children under the age of 5 dropped by half, a direct result of the vaccines.

10. Tetanus

Like malaria, tetanus is especially pernicious as it can be passed on to a child during pregnancy. The WHO estimates that in 2018 (the most recent year for data), 25,000 newborns died from neonatal tetanus alone. 

The good news is that figure represents a nearly 90% reduction in cases since 2000 and a 97% reduction compared to 1988. The vaccine celebrated its 100th birthday in 2024. In 2023, 84% of infants around the world received their three doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine.

11. Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is often associated with literature of the 19th Century and seen as a thing of the past in the United States. But it’s still very real and very present (if you follow author John Green on social media, you know). It infects 10 million people every year and, in 2022, it became the second most-fatal infectious disease globally after COVID-19, and has a comorbidity with HIV. 

Nearly half of all people with TB are in eight countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, and South Africa. In countries where it’s most common, vaccination is recommended as soon as possible following birth. In some areas, these early vaccination campaigns have all but eradicated the disease.

12. Typhoid

As of 2019 (the most recent year for complete data), typhoid affected 9 million people annually and killed 110,000. Caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi, it can be spread through contaminated food, particularly in areas with contaminated water supplies and infrastructure. Given that one out of every three people around the world don’t have safe drinking water, this is a large swath of the global population. 

India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are high-risk countries, but a recent report published by The Lancet reveals that another area burdened by the disease includes Burkina Faso, the DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, and Nigeria. Fortunately, typhoid vaccines have also been on the market for a while — since 1896, to be exact. The newest versions were launched in 2018 to improve safety and side effects. One study in Malawi saw an average efficacy of this new variation to be just over 78%. 

13. Whooping cough

Pertussis, also known as the whooping cough, is a highly contagious upper-respiratory infection that poses an especially high risk to infants under the age of two. However, it’s an illness with another stalwart vaccine, first developed in 1926 and another of the WHO’s essential medications. It’s factored into early-childhood vaccination efforts with significant results and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. A landmark study published earlier this year revealed that early childhood vaccinations (pertussis among them) had, over 50 years, saved 101 million lives, most of them infants. This has reduced infant deaths by 40% globally and by more than 50% in Africa. 

The whooping cough vaccine is also one sixth of what’s known as the 6-in-1 vaccine (or DTaP/IPV/Hib/Hep B if you need a new combination for your Scrabble letters). This combination protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, polio, and Hib (a form of influenza linked to meningitis). 

14. Yellow fever

Yellow fever is another vector-borne illness spread by mosquitoes and affecting many of the countries we work, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the viral infection can be significantly curbed with a vaccine (first used in 1938), which leads to 99% protection within one month. What’s more, it can be done in one dose. With over 600 million administrations in over 80 years, only 12 known cases post-vaccination have been diagnosed. The vaccine is also less than $1 per dose, making it an essential for countries where the disease (which has no cure) is endemic. 

Concern’s commitment to vaccination

In many cases, these vaccines Concern works with have been around longer than Concern itself — sometimes as much as twice as long (for those of you doing the math, we’re nearly 60 years old). In many of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, immunization rates are low and risks are high. Low vaccination coverage in Yemen has left an estimated 70% of children without a full course of basic vaccinations while living among cholera and measles outbreaks. We work to give communities access to vaccines, while allaying any fears or misconceptions about them with community-led education sessions.

In other areas, access is the real problem versus misinformation. Last year, Concern Sierra Leone concluded an extensive project, UNIVAC, to address this. The program supported both mobile and community health centers to reach communities at risk for exclusion from both COVID-19 vaccinations and routine childhood immunizations (including diphtheria, rotavirus, and polio). Between January and August, 2023, we reached nearly 222,000 children across all 16 districts of the country via 16 mobile teams and 251 outreach teams — a 29% increase in immunizations compared to the previous year. 

You can help us do even more:

$35 can vaccinate ten children against measles

$250 can train one vaccine outreach team to provide critical immunizations in hard-to-reach areas 

$1,000 can sponsor a five-day monthly vaccination campaign, including the hiring of six vaccinators and two drivers to travel to remote, yet high-risk areas

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