Make yourself available as a guest on radio and television programs. If vaccine-preventable diseases are in the news, use the opportunity to call for increased political commitment to immunization. Discuss your concerns with government officials. Become active in national paediatric and medical associations and encourage them to formally recommend use of new vaccines against diseases that are major public health problems. Emphasize that vaccination is necessary even when disease levels diminish in your community.
Global travel is now so common that infections can be spread between continents in a day.
Not until a disease has been eradicated worldwide can immunization against it be discontinued safely. Only smallpox has been eradicated so far, and that was achieved through continuing, and thorough, immunization. Global immunization is the greatest public health success in history. In little more than a decade, a massive effort raised coverage rates from 5 per cent of children worldwide in the late 1970s to a reported 80 per cent in 1990. But as new health issues were given priority, some of the energy and excitement about immunization dwindled.