Abu Sary is pictured with WHO staff in July 2024 during the 2nd round of the Big Catch-up vaccination activity in Al-Saan health center, Suqaylabiyah, Hama Governorate.27 August 2024, Damascus, Syria – On 28 May 2024, delegates of the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly took part in a special high-level event to celebrate 50 years of immunization progress – honouring achievements, embracing innovation and envisioning the future. The event was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI).
As WHO marks this milestone, it is important to acknowledge the health worker heroes who have worked tirelessly to protect public health. One such hero is Abu Sary, from Salamiyah, Hama, Syria. His lifelong dedication to vaccinating the children of Bedouin tribes has significantly improved health in his community.
Born into a Bedouin family, Abu Sary has always understood the unique challenges of his people. After graduating in 1967, Abu Sary joined the health department in Salamiyah. His purpose was clear: to bring to the nomadic Bedouin families the essential health services they often missed out on.
From 1967 to 2004, Abu Sary worked with mobile vaccination teams. He educated Bedouin families about the importance of vaccination, facilitated their access to public services and earned their trust. This trust was crucial to his mission to ensure that children received the essential vaccinations they needed.
Abu Sary consistently went above and beyond his duties. Each week, he would travel with mobile vaccination teams to Bedouin areas on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, often staying overnight to ensure that all vaccines were administered. On Monday evenings, he returned to Salamiyah to refill his car with fuel and collect more vaccines, before continuing to visit different Bedouin areas until Thursday. His commitment to working away from home showed his deep dedication to the health of the Bedouin people, who trusted him as one of their own.
After retiring in 2004, Abu Sary remained an influential figure in vaccination promotion in Salamiyah and the surrounding deserts of Hama, Homs and Ar-Raqqa. For many years, he continued to know the vaccination status of every Bedouin child, and he would help mobilize community members for vaccination activities.
In 2024, Abu Sary supported the Big Catch-Up vaccination activities conducted in April and July, which reached and screened the vaccination status of more than 26 000 children aged under 5 years across Syria. His efforts directly helped to vaccinate more than 160 zero-dose children in the Salamiyah area, most of them living in remote and high-risk areas.
Today, Abu Sary’s daughter is pursuing a career in health care that involves administering vaccinations, inspired by her father’s commitment to the cause. His enduring influence ensures that his mission to protect public health continues.
Abu Sary’s efforts have saved numerous lives, and his story exemplifies how one individual can truly make a difference through commitment and service. Abu Sary is not only a health worker, but also an immunization hero.
