For every generation, vaccines work – if we make them work
The theme for this year's World Immunization Week is "For every generation, vaccines work". PATH Kenya's communications lead Peter Abwao reflects on what this means to him.
- 27 April 2026
- 3 min read
- by PATH
I did not grow up thinking about vaccines.
In our village, life unfolded as it did. Children played, seasons changed and every so often, tragedy passed through quietly, almost routinely.
A baby would fall sick and within days, word would spread that the child had died. At the burial, the explanation was often simple, almost resigned: “The baby had diarrhoea for two days… and then died.”
We did not know then that this was likely rotavirus: a disease from which no child should die today.
Then there was Omuyeka mukali: “the big fever.” When it came, it swept through the village like a storm. Measles spared few. Some children recovered. Some did not. And yet, to us, it felt normal; an unavoidable part of growing up.
In our classrooms were children whose legs could not carry them. Limbs that looked different. Lives permanently altered. We did not understand it then, but many of them were living with the effects of polio.
That was our reality.
A different Kenya is possible
Today, that reality has changed, and not accidentally.
Vaccines have dramatically reduced deaths from rotavirus. Measles, though still a threat, no longer sweeps through communities with the same devastating force when immunisation coverage is strong. And polio, once a visible and feared disease, has been pushed to the brink of eradication.
These are not abstract successes. They are the difference between life and death. Between disability and possibility. Between fear and normal childhood.
This time, it is personal
It is not enough that vaccines worked for my generation. They worked for me.
They protected me and many of my peers from the “big fever,” from deadly diarrosea, and from the kind of lifelong disability we saw in our classmates.
But here is the uncomfortable truth: that protection is still not reaching every child.
Have you read?
In Kenya today, national immunisation coverage stands at about 80–84%. That is progress. But it is not equity.
Behind the national figure lies a different story. In counties such as Turkana, immunisation coverage remains below 60% in some areas.
A national average can comfort us, but it can also conceal the child who is still unprotected.
The new threat is not the disease alone
We are no longer only fighting viruses and bacteria. We are now also fighting doubt.
Misinformation. Disinformation. Fake news.
These are eroding trust in vaccines, sometimes faster than we can rebuild it.
What must be done now
We must reach every child, close the equity gap, rebuild trust, invest in frontline health workers, and make immunisation visible and urgent again.
A shared responsibility
Vaccines worked for me. The question is whether we will ensure they work for every child today, and for every child yet to be born.
As part of my work with PATH in Kenya, supporting behaviour change communication for immunisation, I see every day what it takes to turn vaccines into health impact.
We are making our contribution: working alongside government, health workers and communities to ensure that vaccines continue to save lives.
But this is a shared responsibility. For policymakers, health workers, media and all of us, it means continuously choosing facts over fear.
The power of immunization is not just preventing disease. It is in redefining what we accept as normal.
For every generation, vaccines work. But only if we choose, deliberately and urgently, to make them work for all.
