About 25 million children risk contracting diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio, as experts warn of a “child health crisis” as immunisation rates fall. Inadequate immunisation coverage has already led to deaths and resulted in avoidable outbreaks of measles and polio in the past 12 months, said the UN agencies.
Almost two-thirds (62%) of children who received no vaccines in 2021 lived in 10 countries, all low or lower-middle-income countries, except Brazil.
Almost 25 million children missed their first measles shot in 2021, 5.3 million more than in 2019. A further 14.7 million did not receive the required second dose. And 3.5 million more children missed the first dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer later in life, last year compared with 2019.
“This is a red alert for child health. We are witnessing the largest sustained drop in childhood immunization in a generation. The consequences will be measured in lives,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director.
Dr Kate O’Brien, director of the department of immunisation, vaccines and biologicals at the WHO, said 2021 had not been a year of “recovery” but of “further backsliding” for immunisation programmes after the lockdowns in place around the world in 2020.
She said: “When vaccinations are not given, there are tens of millions of children and adolescents, as well as pregnant women and adults, not receiving vaccines … and there are people suffering severe health consequences. People have lost their lives as a result of vaccine-preventable diseases.”
Jennifer Requejo, global health data lead at Unicef, said: “The backslides are alarming.” In Africa, she said: “There’s the risk of famine in countries like Ethiopia, food insecurity levels are increasing because of the war in Ukraine, and also with Covid there are service disruptions, as well as economic challenges that a lot of countries are facing. Those are worrying trends put together.”
No comments:
Post a Comment