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Last year, up to 23 million children worldwide were not routinely immunized due to health care disruptions linked to COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO ). This number marks an increase of 3.7 million compared to 2019 and a record not seen since 2009.
“Regarding, most of them – up to 17 million children – probably did not receive a single vaccine during the year, which created already huge inequalities in access to vaccines.” , warned the WHO. “Most of these children live in conflict-affected communities, in remote, underserved places, or in informal settings or slums where they face multiple deprivations, including limited access to basic health care and to key social services.
The agency said disruptions in childhood immunizations were greatest in regions of Southeast Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean. India saw the biggest drop in vaccinations, followed by Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Mexico. Millions of people missed the first doses of a vaccine against measles, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.
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While COVID-19-related disruptions in healthcare contributed to the declines, officials noted that trends in childhood immunizations were concerning before the pandemic. While the WHO recommends a 95% vaccination rate to prevent a resurgence of measles, the average has hovered around 86% for several years.
“Even though countries are clamoring to get their hands on COVID-19 vaccines, we have backed down on other vaccinations, leaving children at risk of devastating but preventable diseases like measles, polio or meningitis,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director of WHO. -general. “Multiple disease outbreaks would devastate communities and health systems already struggling with COVID-19, making it more urgent than ever to invest in childhood immunizations and ensure every child is reached. . ”
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The report is not the first released to note a drop in childhood vaccines, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned last month that in the United States there had been a marked drop in the past. first months of the pandemic.
The agency said that while there had been a sharp drop between March and May 2020, there had been an increase during the months of June to September, but “not enough to achieve catch-up coverage.”
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“This delay in catch-up vaccination could pose a serious public health threat that would lead to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, especially in schools that have reopened for in-person learning,” the CDC said. “Over the past several decades, the United States has achieved a substantial reduction in the prevalence of vaccine-preventable diseases, in large part through the continued administration of routinely recommended pediatric vaccines. ”
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