Topic: 2025 – Vaccine Access and Distribution
Country: Saudi Arabia
Delegate Name: Clara Winstanley
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long acknowledged the importance of a healthy populace. A large part in achieving this public health is to prevent the spread of preventable illness through a vaccinated society. Worldwide, there have been record vaccination levels, at 86% of infants vaccinated, yet these numbers are unevenly spread, and many places, especially lower income countries in Africa and South-East Asia, still lack access to vaccination resources. This is why in 2021, the World Health Assembly endorsed the Immunization Agenda 2030, referred to as IA2030, a global plan aimed towards preventing disease, promoting equity, and building strong immunization programs.
The Saudi National Immunization Program began in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1979, and since then the Kingdom has taken an active interest in immunization, requiring all children to be vaccinated under the National Child Protection Law, leading to immunization rates in the high ninety percents of all major vaccines listed by the World Health Organization. Even through the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had a high 77.58% vaccination rate for the Corona Virus, achieved through consistent information being provided to the public and widespread access to vaccination sites. In more recent years, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has contributed to world efforts, especially in the realm of Polio eradication, in 2024 promising 500 million USD towards the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The Kingdom has also worked closely with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to help eradicate polio, and through the pandemic’s disruption, funded efforts to distribute Polio vaccinations to low income countries throughout Africa and the Middle East through the Saudi Fund for Development.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia believes it is essential to create task forces and international standards for vaccinations. As outlined in IA2030, it is imperative to both have overarching goals for each country, and more focused, independent ideas based on the specific backgrounds and needs of a country. When countries are shown to struggle with gathering the required resources, such as finding an educated healthcare force, or lacking the funds to create comprehensive transportation systems and accessible housing for efforts, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia believes that the UN should step in to help provide for their needs. In addition, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia believes it imperative that media efforts are emphasized, for the impact of immunization must be communicated in order to provide incentive. Through the process, systems of monitoring and evaluation both within the country and more widely by the program, as outlined in IA2030’s seven Impact Goal Indicators must be carried out to ensure application and continued efforts in each country.
Resources:
https://www.who.int/about/funding/contributors/kingdom-of-saudi-arabia
https://www.immunizationagenda2030.org/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8249725/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12413835/#cit0005
https://immunizationdata.who.int/dashboard/regions/eastern-mediterranean-region/SAU
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/vaccines/international
https://www.who.int/teams/immunization-vaccines-and-biologicals/strategies/ia2030
