67 million children worldwide missed out on vaccines during covid causing other disease resurgence

UNICEF in its 2023 report has revealed that 67 million children around the globe missed out entirely or partially on vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic period, particularly between 2019 and 2021. The report states that lockdowns and disruptions to healthcare caused by the pandemic were at the origin of this unfortunate situation causing over a decade of hard earned gains on routine childhood immunization to be eroded.

UNICEF’s April 19 report says the share of vaccinated children slipped 5 percentage points to 81%, the lowest recorded since 2008. Africa and Asia were hit hardest. In other words, around one in five children worldwide were not fully protected against vaccines preventable diseases.

“It’s essential that we act now to vaccinate every child, no matter where they were born, who they are and where they live. By doing so, we’re giving today’s children and tomorrow’s adults the chance to thrive. These are the actions we can and must take,” the UNICEF Executive Director stressed.

According to the data, confidence in childhood vaccines declined by 44% in some countries during the pandemic, sending a worrying warning signal according to Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director.

“Zero-dose children are those who have not received their first diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus vaccine (DTP1). Under-vaccinated children are those who received one dose, but not a third protective dose. Diseases are now reappearing in countries where they had previously been controlled. Meanwhile, we’re also seeing surges of cases in nations that hadn’t yet eliminated the diseases. Those include cholera, measles and polio outbreaks,” a part of the report says.

UNICEF officials note that vaccines have played a very important role in allowing more children to live healthy with long lives. They stress that the slide in vaccination rates could be compounded by other crises stemming from climate change, economic stagnation, food insecurity, and conflicts among others, making it tougher for health systems and countries to meet vaccination needs.

“More than three out of four of the world’s zero-dose children live in 20 countries. They live in the remotest of rural areas, urban slums, crisis-affected regions, and migrant and refugee communities. These children urgently need to be reached with vaccines,” another section reads.

UNICEF calls on governments to double efforts on their commitments to increase financing for immunization with special attention on accelerating catch-up vaccinations for those who missed their shots.