According to the United Nations, about 25 million kids worldwide have missed out on routine immunizations against common diseases like diphtheria, largely because the COVID-19 pandemic triggered misinformation about vaccines or disrupted regular health services.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF said in a new report published on Friday, July 15, that their figures show that 25 million children last year failed to get vaccinated against tetanus, pertussis, and diphtheria, a marker for childhood immunization coverage, continuing a downward trend that started in 2019.
Catherine Russell, UNICEF's executive director, offered a blunt assessment, saying this is a red alert for child health. She added that they are witnessing the most significant sustained drop in childhood immunization in a generation and that the consequences would be measured in lives lost, the Associated Press reported.
Vast majority of children affected were living in developing countries
Data showed that the vast majority of the kids who failed to get immunized were living in developing countries, namely the Philippines, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Indonesia. While vaccine coverage fell in every region of the world, the worst effects were witnessed in the Pacific and East Asia.
According to experts, this historic backsliding in vaccination coverage was especially disturbing since it was happening as rates of severe malnutrition were rising. Malnourished kids typically have weaker immune systems, and infections like measles can often prove fatal to these children.
The U.N. said that the convergence of a hunger crisis with a growing immunization gap threatens to create the conditions for a child survival crisis. Scientists noted that low vaccine coverage rates had already resulted in preventable outbreaks of diseases like polio and measles.
According to NBC News, routine immunizations protect kids against 16 infectious diseases, including measles and chickenpox, and inhibit transmission to the community.
COVID-19 pandemic harmed immunization services
The WHO and partners asked countries in March 2020 to suspend their polio eradication efforts amid the accelerating COVID-19 pandemic. That proved costly as dozens of polio epidemics have since been in more than 30 countries.
Helen Bedford, a professor of children's health at University College London, said that this is particularly tragic as tremendous progress was made in the two decades before the COVID pandemic to improve childhood vaccination rates globally. She added the news was shocking but not surprising, noting that immunization services are frequently an early casualty of major economic or social disasters.
Dr. David Elliman, a consultant pediatrician at Britain's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, said it was critical to reverse the declining vaccination trend among kids. He added that the effects of what happens in one part of the world could ripple out to affect the whole globe.
He noted the rapid spread of COVID-19 and more recently, monkeypox, as examples of that. Elliman said that whether they act based on ethics or enlightened self-interest, they must put the children at the top of their list of priorities.
