About 25 million children worldwide have missed routine immunizations against common diseases such as diphtheria, largely because the coronavirus pandemic disrupted regular health services or caused misinformation about vaccines, according to the United Nations
In a new report released Friday, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said their data showed 25 million children failed to get vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, a marker of childhood immunization coverage, last year, continuing a downward trend , started in 2019.
“This is a red alert for children’s health,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director.
“We are witnessing the largest sustained decline in childhood immunizations in a generation,” she said, adding that the consequences will be measured in lives lost.
Data shows that the majority of children who have failed to be immunized live in developing countries, namely Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and the Philippines. Although vaccine coverage declined in every region of the world, the worst effects were seen in East Asia and the Pacific.
Experts said this “historic regression” in vaccination coverage is particularly worrying because it is happening as levels of severe malnutrition are rising. Malnourished children usually have weaker immune systems and infections such as measles can often prove fatal for them.
“The convergence of a hunger crisis with a widening immunization gap threatens to create the conditions for a child survival crisis,” the UN said.
Scientists said low vaccination rates had already led to preventable outbreaks of diseases such as measles and polio. In March 2020, WHO and partners asked countries to halt polio eradication efforts amid the accelerating COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, there have been dozens of polio outbreaks in more than 30 countries.
“This is particularly tragic as enormous progress was made in the two decades before the COVID pandemic to improve childhood vaccination rates worldwide,” said Helen Bedford, a professor of child health at University College London, who was not affiliated with the UN report. She said the news was shocking but not surprising, noting that immunization services are often an “early victim” of major social or economic disasters.
Dr David Elliman, a consultant pediatrician at the UK’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, said it was vital to reverse the trend of declining vaccinations among children.
“The effects of what happens in one part of the world can spread and affect the entire globe,” he said in a statement, noting the rapid spread of COVID-19 and, more recently, monkeypox. “Whether we’re acting on ethics or ‘enlightened self-interest,’ we have to put (children) at the top of our priority list.”
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