A health worker administers polio vaccine in The Gambia. (file)
London:
According to new data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), efforts to vaccinate children around the world against deadly diseases such as measles and diphtheria will begin in 2022, surpassing that of COVID-19. 19 recovered after a historic decline due to the pandemic. ,
But the recovery remains uneven, with strong rebounds in large lower-middle-income countries such as India and Indonesia hiding ongoing problems in many smaller and poorer countries, the agencies said in a statement released Tuesday.
In 2022, 20.5 million children will miss one or more routine childhood vaccines, down from 24.4 million children in 2021. Despite the progress, the number is still higher than in 2019, when 18.4 million children were not fully protected.
Number estimated from 183 countries, using data based on receiving three-doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) jabs, and includes children who received no vaccine at all as well as children who missed any of these. Dose required for safety.
Globally, coverage rates were 86% before the pandemic and 84% in 2022.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the numbers were “encouraging” but there were concerns that the most vulnerable were being left behind.
“When countries and regions fall behind, children pay the price,” he said.
Of the 73 countries that saw substantial declines in regular coverage during the pandemic, 34 – ranging from Angola to Syria – have seen no improvement or even worsened since . The WHO and UNICEF said fifteen people had recovered to pre-pandemic levels and 24 were on the way to recovery.
The agencies also warn that measles vaccinations have not recovered quickly enough, with 21.9 million children globally missing their first dose in 2022 – 2.7 million more than in 2019 – and 13.3 million children missing their second dose. Have been able to take In low-income countries, the coverage rate for measles actually dropped to 66% last year, from 67% in 2021, said Kate O’Brien, WHO’s immunization chief. Measles outbreaks are already on the rise.
“When children are not vaccinated, it means they are not immune to life-threatening diseases,” O’Brien told Reuters in an interview. “The kids are going to die.
Rates of only HPV vaccination, which prevents cervical cancer, have recovered to pre-pandemic levels. But they are well below the 90% target, 67% in high-income countries and 55% in low- and middle-income countries where the shot has been introduced.
WHO and UNICEF, along with Gavi, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other partners, launched a campaign earlier this year to help countries scale up childhood immunizations.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV Staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)