VACCINE-PREVENTABLE DISEASE ELIMINATION

Abstract

Vaccine-preventable diseases have changed the history of public health. Diseases that once caused  repeated childhood deaths, disability  and fear can now be controlled, eliminated, and in the case of  smallpox,  eradicated  through  vaccination  combined  with  strong  surveillance  and  public -health  systems. Yet elimination is not automatic. It depends on consistently high immunization coverage,  equitable access, reliable disease surveillance, rapid outbreak response, public trust, strong supply  chains and the ability of health systems to reach children who are missed by routine services. This  narrative review examines the meaning of control, elimination and eradication; the role of routine  immunization; lessons from polio, measles and rubella;