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WHO / YELLOW FEVER
STORY: WHO / YELLOW FEVER
TRT: 1.43
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: (EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:30 GMT / 4:30 AM EASTERN TIME)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 26 APRIL 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE – 2-12, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND /FILE- 2008, MALI
FILE- 2008 VACCINATION CAMPAIGN, MALI
1. Close up, yellow fever vaccination card
2. Med shot, staff ordering yellow fever vaccination cards
3. Wide shot, staff ordering yellow fever vaccination cards
4. Zoom out, mothers with children cueing for vaccination
FILE – 2012, WHO HEADQUARTERS, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
5. Wide shot, exterior WHO HQ in Geneva
26 APRIL 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen Rees, Chairperson, Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) / Executive Director, Reproductive Health Research Unit, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa:
“In terms of yellow fever vaccine, many people will be aware – who’ve been travelers, that when you travel into countries you get given a yellow card, and you have to have a yellow fever vaccination when you go into endemic yellow fever countries. Now that has to be boosted after ten years – that’s been the conventional guidance. Because of new evidence, SAGE has recently reviewed whether or not this booster is required. Looking at really very good evidence, it was quite clear to SAGE that in fact a single dose of yellow fever vaccine is effective, and probably gives lifelong immunity to an individual. This is important – I mentioned travelers, it’s not only for travelers – this is extremely important for countries where yellow fever is endemic, because it will allow them to also reconsider their vaccine scheduling. This has cost-saving implications, it has implications for programmes, and it’s got implications for communities.”
FILE- 2008 VACCINATION CAMPAIGN, MALI
7. Wide shot, vaccinations staff and mother with children
8. Pan right, from box with vials to needles
9. Med shot, mother getting vaccinate
10. Med shot, mother and child
The yellow fever ‘booster’ vaccination given ten years after the initial vaccination is not necessary, according to the World Health Organization (who).
An article published in WHO’s Weekly Epidemiological Record ER reveals that the Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization (SAGE) had reviewed the latest evidence and concluded that a single dose of vaccination was sufficient to confer life-long immunity against yellow fever disease.
Since yellow fever vaccination began in the 1930s, only 12 known cases of yellow fever post-vaccination have been identified, after 600 million doses have been dispensed. Evidence showed that among this small number of “vaccine failures”, all cases developed the disease within five years of vaccination. This demonstrates that immunity does not decrease with time.
Helen Rees, SAGE’s Chairperson and Executive Director of the Reproductive Health Research Unit at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa said that
Because of new evidence, SAGE has recently reviewed whether or not this booster is required. Looking at really very good evidence, it was quite clear to SAGE that in fact a single dose of yellow fever vaccine is effective, and probably gives lifelong immunity to an individual.
Is an extremely important issue for countries where yellow fever is endemic because it will allow them to also reconsider their vaccine scheduling. She added that “this has cost-saving implications, it has implications for programmes, and it’s got implications for communities.”
Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes that is endemic to 44 countries in tropical areas of Africa and the Americas. Infection with the yellow fever virus causes varying degrees of disease, from mild symptoms to severe illness with bleeding and jaundice and fatal outcomes.
There are an estimated 200 000 cases of yellow fever worldwide each year. About 15% of people infected with yellow fever progress to a severe form of the illness, and up to half of those will die, as there is no cure for yellow fever. The treatment is aimed simply at reducing patients’ discomfort.
The vast majority of reported cases and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. In endemic regions of Africa, yellow fever natural immunity is acquired with age, putting children at highest risk of infection. Over the past two decades, the number of yellow fever cases worldwide has increased due to declining population immunity to infection, deforestation, urbanization, population movements and climate change.
Vaccination is considered to be the most important and effective measure against yellow fever. Protective immunity develops within 30 days for 99% of people receiving the vaccination. For routine immunization programmes in Africa, home to 31 of the 44 yellow-fever endemic countries, the vaccine costs about $0.82 per dose.
SAGE is the principal advisory group to WHO for vaccines and immunization. It is charged with advising WHO on overall global policies and strategies, ranging from vaccines and technology, research and development, to delivery of immunization and its linkages with other health interventions. SAGE is concerned with all vaccine-preventable diseases including childhood vaccines and immunization.
SAGE stands for the strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization, and it’s WHO’s senior committee that advises the Director General of the WHO on all matters to do with vaccines and immunization programs.
When SAGE makes a recommendation about, yes, we think this new vaccine is something that definitely should be rolled out, or, “you can change the schedule of a vaccine,” or “we think you should be introducing a vaccine in this way, not in that way” – when SAGE makes those recommendations, then they have a worldwide impact, and it is seen as a committee that has a lot of scientific credibility because of the way that it operates.
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