Nearly 23 million children missed routine vaccination last year because Coronavirus disease The United Nations agency said on Thursday that the pandemic is the highest number in more than a decade, contributing to outbreaks of measles, polio and other preventable diseases.
According to the World Health Organization, measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world and can be fatal to children under five, especially in countries in Africa and Asia with weak health systems. Poliomyelitis can disable children for life.
The WHO and UNICEF stated in an annual report that the gap in global vaccination coverage has triggered a “perfect storm”, just like the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in many countries, making more children vulnerable to contagion. Violation of pathogens.
The 10 countries led by India and Nigeria accounted for the majority of the 22.7 million children who were not vaccinated or not vaccinated with diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) in 2020-3.7 million more than in 2019, the most since 2009. Talk about a key indicator of childhood vaccination rates.
The outbreak of COVID-19 in unvaccinated groups, such as children under 12 years of age, is a “reality”: Tam
The report added that “large-scale and destructive” measles outbreaks have been recorded in hot spots such as Afghanistan, Mali, Somalia and Yemen.
It said that about 22.3 million children missed the first dose of measles vaccine last year—although there may be significant overlap with those who lack DTP coverage—this is the lowest coverage for the deadly disease since 2010.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a major retrogression in childhood vaccination, bringing us back more than a decade,” said Kate O’Brien, WHO’s Director of Immunization, at a press conference.
Ephrem Lemango, head of immunization at UNICEF, said that “zero-dose” children—that is, those who missed any vaccinations—had an “astounding increase” from 1,360 last year. Million increased to 17.1 million. He said that many people live in war-torn countries or slums.
According to the report, 66 countries have postponed at least one immunization campaign against preventable diseases, although some countries, including Mexico, have already started catch-up plans.
“In 2021, we may have a perfect storm about to happen, and we don’t want to ring the alarm in this perfect storm. We are ringing it now,” O’Brien said.
She said the WHO has urged countries not to abolish public health and social distancing measures too soon when they begin to escape the pandemic.
“But if this is happening-and it is happening-we will see more and more pathogens spread, otherwise these pathogens are vaccine-preventable pathogens.”
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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