GENEVA – Routine immunisation of children has resumed after a sharp decline during the Covid-19 crisis, according to the United Nations, but dangerous gaps persist.
According to data issued by the UN health and children’s organisations, four million more children received routine childhood immunisations last year than in 2021.
“That’s a good news story,” said World Health Organisation vaccination chief Kate O’Brien, according to AFP.
“On average, countries around the world are recovering and immunising in order to reach the level of immunisation that existed prior to the pandemic.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus concurred, calling the new statistics “encouraging.”
However, he cautioned that “global and regional averages don’t tell the whole story and mask severe and persistent inequities.”
“When countries and regions lag, it is the children who pay the price.”
Despite advances, 20.5 million children will have missed one or more routine vaccinations by 2022.
This was down from 24.4 million a year ago, but it was still significantly above the 18.4 million who missed out in 2019, before the pandemic struck.
O’Brien expressed concern about the recovery being “very uneven.”
The statistics revealed that dramatic advances in vaccine coverage in populous nations such as India and Indonesia had hidden slower recovery and even ongoing decreases in the majority of low-income countries.
The WHO and UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, expressed special alarm over delayed vaccination against measles, one of the world’s most contagious diseases.
Of the 73 nations that saw significant drops in measles vaccine coverage during the pandemic, 15 had recovered to pre-pandemic levels by the end of last year, with another 24 on the way.
However, 34 had stagnated or continued to decline.
“Beneath the positive trend lies a grave warning,” warned UNICEF chief Catherine Russell in a statement.
“Until more countries close gaps in routine immunisation coverage, children everywhere will be at risk of contracting and dying from diseases that can be avoided.”
Last year, 83 percent of children received their first measles vaccine dose during their first year of life, an increase from 81 percent in 2021 but a decrease from 86 percent prior to the pandemic.
According to Tuesday’s statement, the delayed recovery was putting an extra 35.2 million youngsters at risk of measles infections.
On a brighter note, vaccination coverage against the cancer-causing HPV virus surpassed pre-pandemic levels last year, albeit it still fell far short of the 90% objective.