Unicef estimates that 67 million children around the world did not receive all routine vaccinations between 2019 and 2021 due to limitations in health services caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a report released this Thursday, quoted by AFP, the UN agency for children warns of a “serious interruption” in the vaccination schedule for children, which could lead to outbreaks of diseases such as polio and measles.
Vaccination coverage fell in 112 countries and the percentage of children vaccinated worldwide fell 5 percentage points to 81%, a record low since 2008. The African continent and South Asia were the most affected areas.
“In the last three years, more than a decade of hard-won gains in routine childhood immunization have been eroded,” laments Unicef, noting that it will be “a challenge” to return to pre-pandemic vaccination levels.
Vaccines save 4.4 million lives a year, a number that the United Nations says could rise to 5.8 million by 2030 if its goals to “leave no one behind” are met.
“Vaccines play a very important role in enabling more children to live long and healthy lives,” Brian Keeley, editor-in-chief of the report, told AFP. “Any drop in vaccination rates is concerning.”
Before the vaccine was introduced in 1963, measles killed about 2.6 million people a year, most of them children. By 2021, this number had dropped to 128,000. However, between 2019 and 2021, the percentage of children vaccinated against measles dropped from 86% to 81%, and the number of measles cases in 2022 doubled compared to 2021.
The report also expresses concern about the drop in population confidence in vaccines, observed in 52 of the 55 countries analyzed, which, UNICEF warns, may contribute to the increase in deaths from preventable diseases.
Source: TSF
