The Medical Director of Pfizer, Sub-Saharan Africa, Dr Kodjo Soroh has underscored the need to focus on research and development in new areas in order to produce effective and approved vaccines.
Although many had benefited from safe and effective vaccines to prevent infections and diseases across the globe to, Dr Soroh asserted that many viruses and bacteria still presented serious health risk.
Dr Soroh made this assertion on Monday through an awareness creation campaign by Pfizer Incorporated, an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation on the relevance of continued vaccine innovation for the present and future.
According to him, vaccines underpinned global health security by preventing and controlling over 30 infectious diseases, reducing unnecessary hospitalisation, and controlling infectious disease outbreak.
Similarly, he noted that vaccines were one of the world's most powerful and cost-effective public health tools available which had successfully aided in the eradication, elimination, and management of many deadly infectious diseases.
"Vaccines also play a critical role in combatting antimicrobial resistance: they can reduce antibiotic use by preventing bacterial infections in the first place, such as with the pneumococcal and meningococcal vaccines, and can also prevent viral infections such as flu, which can provoke secondary infections requiring antibiotics", Dr Soroh added.
The Medical Director further opined that it was difficult for some to get vaccinated because they were either too young or too old, or had weak immune systems or other serious health conditions.
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Such persons, he said, were less likely to catch a preventable disease when those around them were vaccinated.
Dr Soroh therefore advised individuals across the globe to stay up to date on recommended vaccines in order to avoid the spread of preventable diseases in communities while protecting themselves and their loved ones.
In its quest to protect as many lives as possible from life-threatening diseases, Dr Soroh indicated that Pfizer was currently working to develop and distribute vaccines throughout the world.
The awareness creation on the relevance of continued vaccine innovation by Pfizer Incorporate formed part of activities to mark the celebration of this year's World Immunisation Week on the theme "The Big Catch-up", which represents a global push to vaccinate millions of children and a return to pre-pandemic vaccination levels.
