The Covid-19 pandemic triggered lockdowns and health-care delays that resulted in 67 million children missing routine vaccines globally between 2019 and 2021, United Nations said Wednesday.
“More than a decade of hard-earned gains in routine childhood immunisation have been eroded.” according to a recent UNICEF report. Adding that getting back on track “will be challenging.”
UNICEF noted that of the 67 million children whose vaccinations were “severely disrupted.” 48 million did not receive routine vaccines at all. Raising fears about potential polio and measles epidemics.
Vaccine coverage among children fell in 112 nations, and the global percentage of children vaccinated fell 5 points to 81 percent. The lowest level since 2008. Africa and South Asia were impacted very hard.
“Worryingly, the backsliding during the pandemic came at the end of a decade. When, in broad terms, growth in childhood immunisation had stagnated,” the research said.
Vaccines save 4.4 million lives per year, a figure that the UN estimates may rise to 5.8 million by 2030 if its ambitious goals of leaving “no one behind” are reached.
“Vaccines have played a really important role in allowing more children to live healthy, long lives.” Study editor in chief Brian Keeley told AFP. “Any decrease in vaccination rates is concerning.”
Measles killed around 2.6 million people each year prior to the advent of a vaccine in 1963, the majority of them were children. By 2021, that figure had dropped to 128,000.
However, the percentage of children vaccinated against measles declined from 86 percent to 81 percent between 2019 and 2021. And the number of cases in 2022 doubled compared to 2021.
Low vaccine confidence –
Keeley warned that the decline in vaccination rates could be exacerbated by other crises ranging from climate change to food instability.
“You’ve got an increasing number of conflicts, economic stagnation in a lot of countries, climate emergencies, and so on,” he explained. “All of this makes it more difficult for health systems and countries to meet vaccination needs.”
UNICEF urged nations to “double down on their commitment to increase immunisation financing.” With a focus on increasing “catch-up” vaccination efforts for individuals who missed their injections.
The report also expressed concern over a decline in people’s trust in vaccines. Which observed in 52 of the 55 countries surveyed.
“We cannot allow confidence in routine immunisations to become another victim of the pandemic.” Said Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director, in a statement. “Otherwise, the next wave of deaths could be more children infected with measles, diphtheria. Or other preventable diseases.”
The paper noted that vaccine confidence can be “volatile and time specific.” And that “further analysis will be required to determine if the findings are indicative of a longer-term trend” beyond the epidemic.
