Thread by @WHO

LIVE from WHO: Director-General @DrTedros addresses the 40th anniversary of #smallpox eradication pscp.tv/w/cMOK3DI2MTAy…

@DrTedros "Today, #smallpox is the only human disease ever eradicated, a testimony to what we can achieve when all nations work together.
When it comes to epidemic disease, we have a shared responsibility and a shared destiny."

-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @WHO_Europe @WHOSEARO @pahowho @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @WHOAFRO “Our experience with #smallpox informs the strategies and tools we now use to fight polio and Ebola, such as disease surveillance, health promotion, and ring vaccination.”

-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @WHO_Europe @WHOSEARO @pahowho @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @WHOAFRO “#Smallpox also laid the foundation for national childhood immunization programmes worldwide, which are critical to primary health care and the movement for #HealthForAll”

-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @WHO_Europe @WHOSEARO @pahowho @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @WHOAFRO "Today, we are facing a lack of trust in public institutions, widespread vaccine hesitancy and disinformation, and glaring gaps in our immunization coverage for the most vulnerable."

-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @WHO_Europe @WHOSEARO @pahowho @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @WHOAFRO "The result has been catastrophic. Globally, #measles killed 140,000 people last year, many of them infants and young children."
-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1205484282820599808?s=20

@DrTedros @WHO_Europe @WHOSEARO @pahowho @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @WHOAFRO "Globally, there are more than 13 million children, many of them in fragile states and conflict-affected countries, who are entirely left out of vaccination services.
We are not protecting the world’s most vulnerable children. This is a collective failure"

-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @WHO_Europe @WHOSEARO @pahowho @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @WHOAFRO "We have brought #polio to the brink of eradication, but we are not there yet.
We must continue with even greater commitment and determination until polio is eradicated. The last mile is the hardest mile."

-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @WHO_Europe @WHOSEARO @pahowho @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @WHOAFRO "And let us remember – the #smallpox vaccine was invented in 1796 - so it took us more than 200 years to achieve eradication.
The lesson is clear – technology is not enough. The best vaccines in the world do not help us if people are not getting them"
-@DrTedros