Provide ‘The Gift Of Vaccines’ To All Children Globally

In a post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog, José Esparza, a senior adviser on global health and vaccines at the foundation, reflects on the “miracle of vaccination,” which he notes led to the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and has “been critical in reducing the under-five child mortality, from 20 million in 1960 to 6.6 million in 2012.” He states, “That is a real miracle, but we have to get better — our New Year resolution should be to extend the gift of vaccines to all children in the world,” adding, “The next big challenge we have today is to eradicate polio, with vaccines that were originally developed in the 1950s and 60s.” He concludes, “We have come a long way in vaccination since the 1930s …, but there is still a long road ahead to ensuring that all children receive the life-saving vaccines they need” (12/16).

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