The anti-vaccine movement joined air pollution and climate change, HIV, and a worldwide influenza pandemic on the list released on Monday.
'Vaccine hesitancy', as the WHO calls it, 'threatens to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases.'
The organization added in its statement: 'Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease - it currently prevents [two to three] million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved.'
A report released last year from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of unvaccinated children up to 35 months old increased four-fold between 2001 and 2015.
There are several reasons why people are reluctant or refused to be immunized despite readily available vaccines.
A vaccine advisory group to the WHO listed some of the reasons as complacency, difficulty accessing vaccines and lack of confidence.
There are 18 US states that allow non-medical vaccine exemptions due to 'conscientious objector' or 'philosophical/personal beliefs'.
A survey from May 2018 found that support for vaccinations among Americans has fallen 10 percent in the last 10 years.
About 70 percent said common vaccines, such as for polio and measles, are 'very important', found the poll from Research America and the American Society for Microbiology.
This is down from 80 percent who gave the same answer in November 2008.
According to the CDC, more than 90 percent of children under age three have been vaccinated for polio, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), Hepatitis B and chicken pox.
And more than 80 percent have received Haemophilus influenzae, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and pneumococcal infection vaccines.
However, mounting distrust has led some parents to not immunize their children, in turn leading to outbreaks of diseases not seen in years, such as measles, whooping cough and mumps.
Comment: Un-vaccinated children causing outbreaks?! The author is seriously reaching here. For more on this topic read the following:
- Harvard Immunologist: Unvaccinated children pose ZERO risk to anyone and here's why
- Another blow to 'vaccine science' - study suggests unvaccinated children are healthier
- Hold up Pro-Vaxxers - don't be so quick to blame the unvaccinated
- Studies outside the U.S. show unvaccinated children healthier than vaccinated children
- First ever vaccinated vs. unvaccinated kid study erased from internet - wonder why?
- Doctor's open letter to US legislator: Stop the fear mongering, unvaccinated children are fine
Some anti-vaxxers avoid shots as a protest against big pharmaceutical companies, but some say vaccines are made from unnatural and unsafe chemicals and that they would rather take their chances on their kids getting treated if or when they get sick.
Comment: Contents of vaccines are concerning!
- Vaccines' dark inferno: What's not on the insert labels?
- The scary ingredients in childhood vaccines
- Disgusting ingredients used to make vaccines
- A formula for disaster: When vaccine ingredients cross the blood brain barrier
- Those who give vaccines should know the ingredients
Others argue that vaccines overload a child's immune system or that natural immunity is better.
Comment: Read more on vaccines and the immune system:
- Science actually supports Antivaxxers: Vaccines utterly destroy cellular immunity
- Attacking ourselves: Doctors reveal how vaccines turn our immune system against us
- Study links vaccine induced immune overload to autism, diabetes, obesity
- New research shows that vaccines cause an epidemic of chronic inflammation
Then, of course, there is the argument that vaccines are linked to autism, a claim that has been debunked by scientists.
Comment: The Autism-Vaccine Debate: Anything But Over
- Scientists come out against vaccines
- Is Autism caused by the MMR vaccine?
- Relationship between MMR Vaccine and Autism: CDC whistleblower goes public
- Autism, Vaccines and the CDC: The Wrong Side of History
- The Vaccine-Autism video the CDC, Big Pharma doesn't want you to see
- Damning: US Justice Dept. fired chief medical expert after he privately told their lawyers vaccines can cause autism
Experts say that, as diseases have become less common, people don't remember a time from before vaccines were commonplace.
'There are infections we haven't seen in years or we can't remember the last time we saw them,' Dr Michael Angarone, an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, told DailyMail.com in an interview last year.
'So they ask: "Why should I vaccinate myself or my child if the disease is not around?" Well, then we'll start seeing more cases of measles, mumps, and polio again.'
According to the WHO, measles - a highly contagious but easily preventable disease - has seen a 30 percent increase in cases around the world.
Comment: Data shows that Measles are being spread by the vaccinated:
- How vaccinated kids infect the non-vaccinated
- Government documents show MMR vaccine clinically linked to measles infection
- CDC's own data shows measles vaccine kills more people than measles
- Buyer beware! 85% of those contracting measles in California are fully vaccinated
- Which is the greater threat? Measles or the Measles Vaccine?
- Government research confirms measles outbreaks are transmitted by the vaccinated
- The vaccinated spreading measles according to WHO, Merck, CDC documents
Between September 2017 and August 2018, WHO reported more than 41,000 cases with 40 deaths in EU member states.
And, according to the CDC, 349 cases of measles were reported in 26 US states and Washington, DC.
It is the second-greatest number since measles was considered eradicated in the US in 2000.
The WHO said that, this year, it plans to ramp up efforts to eliminate cervical cancer by making the HPV vaccine more widely available and as well as providing more vaccines within Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Comment: More horrifying facts about the HPV vaccine:
- Top researcher who worked on cervical cancer vaccine warns about its dangers
- Deaths Associated with HPV Vaccine Start Rolling In, Over 3500 Adverse Affects Reported
- 'Disastrous adverse effects' of HPV vaccine exposed in court testimony, the horrors of this industry can no longer be censored
- High-profile global vaccine conspiracy exposed: This time it's the HPV vaccine
The two central Asian countries were the only nations in 2018 where cases of wild poliovirus were confirmed - largely due to poor sanitation and low levels of vaccination coverage.
But that kettle could boil over at any moment! What if the Twitter mobs start going after real power-holders? Like banking elites and WHO officers?
Best to ramp up the infant drugging program world-wide. Nip it in the bud.