BY: Minda Dentler –
To the Editor:
I am a polio survivor, and my legs are paralyzed because I did not have access to the polio vaccine when I was an infant in India in the late 1970s. As an immunization advocate, I am hopeful that an approach like encouraging the use of vaccine passports to promote the Covid-19 vaccine can be useful to not only help end this pandemic, but also raise awareness and funding to increase equitable access to all vaccines worldwide.
Vaccines save lives. The World Health Organization indicates that vaccines save 2.5 million lives every year. However, there are 1.5 million deaths each year from vaccine-preventable disease because one in five children lacks access to so many basic vaccines.
The current pandemic underscores the need for equal access to vaccines, not just Covid-19, but others as well.
Minda Dentler
New York