On 2 November 2009 VACFA joined forces with other leading health organisations from around the world to recognize the first annual World Pneumonia Day and urge governments to take steps to fight pneumonia, the world’s leading killer of young children. Currently, pneumonia claims the lives of more than 1.8 million children less than five years of age each year i.e. more deaths than measles, malaria, and AIDS combined.

Despited significant efforts made over the years by vaccine regulatory authorities and manufacturers to improve the safety of vaccines, no vaccine is completely safe in all vaccinated individuals. Adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) may be due to the vaccine itself, errors in the preparation or administration of the vaccine, or coincidental medical conditions. What ever the cause,  AEFI should be promptly identified to allow additional research and appropriate action to take place.

It was in this context that WHO's Department of Vaccines and Biologicals established the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) in 1999. 

Emphasis must always be placed on the quality of vaccines to ensure that they are efficacious in preventing or treating life-threatening disease, without themselves causing harm. WHO advises other United Nations (UN) agencies on the acceptability of vaccines considered for purchase by such agencies. Vaccines are considered acceptable (i.e. prequalified), if they "are produced and overseen in accordance with the principles and specifications recommended by WHO, for good manufacturing practice, and for good clinical practice".

WHO's prequalification process ensures that vaccines used in various national immunisation programmes are safe and effective for the target population at the recommended schedules and that they meet particular operational specifications for packaging and presentation. 

WHO and UNICEF developed the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy (GIVS) to assist countries to immunize more people, from infants to seniors, with a greater range of vaccines. This ambitious programme covers the ten-year period from 2006 to 2015.

The main aims of GIVS are:

1. To immunize more people against more diseases
2. To introduce a range of newly available vaccines and technologies;
3. To integrate other critical health interventions with immunisation; and
4. To manage vaccination programmes within the context of global interdependence.