Vaccination Week in the Americas Fact Sheet

Originally launched in 2003, Vaccination Week in the Americas (VWA) is an annual hemispheric event, endorsed by the Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization. VWA was initially proposed in 2002 by the Ministers of Health in the Andean Region following a measles outbreak in Venezuela and Colombia. From 2003-2010, as a result of VWA ,more than 323 million people of a variety of ages have been vaccinated against such illnesses as measles, rubella, polio, hepatitis B, influenza, diphtheria, and tetanus.