Vaccine coverage among Iranian children is close to 100%, according to the head of the Health Ministry’s Preventable Diseases Office. “Immunization programs in the country now reach out to 99% of all children,” Dr. Seyyed Mohsen Zahraei said at a press conference on the occasion of World Immunization Week (April 24-30). Immunization is widely recognized as one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions. It prevents between two and three million deaths every year and now protects children not only against diseases for which vaccines have been available for many years, such as diphtheria, tetanus, polio and measles, but also against pneumonia and rotavirus diarrhea, two of the biggest killers of children under five. Noting that Iran’s immunization program surpasses the level deemed desirable by the World Health Organization (95%), he said the program targets remote and underprivileged areas in the country on priority, ISNA reported.
