Covid-19 leads to major backslide in childhood vaccinations

ELLANIE SMIT



WINDHOEK

A total of 23 million children around the world missed out on basic childhood vaccines last year.

This is the highest number since 2009 and 3.7 million more than in 2019, according to official data published this week by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef).

This latest set of figures, the first to reflect global service disruptions due to Covid-19, show that most countries last year experienced drops in childhood vaccination rates.

Up to 17 million children likely did not receive a single vaccination during the year, the data indicates.

Private paediatricians in Namibia last year reported that they had run out of vaccines for early childhood immunisation injections.

The shortage at private facilities resulted from logistical problems caused by the Covid-19 lockdown.

“Even as countries clamour to get their hands on Covid-19 vaccines, we have gone backwards on other vaccinations, leaving children at risk from devastating, but preventable diseases like measles, polio or meningitis,” said the WHO director-general, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus.

“Multiple disease outbreaks would be catastrophic for communities and health systems already battling Covid-19, making it more urgent than ever to invest in childhood vaccination and ensure every child is reached,” he said.

Losing valuable ground

As access to health services and immunisation outreach were curtailed, the number of children not receiving even their very first vaccinations increased in all regions.

Compared with 2019, 3.5 million more children missed their first dose of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine (DTP-1) while three million more children missed their first measles dose.

“This evidence should be a clear warning, the Covid-19 pandemic and related disruptions cost us valuable ground we cannot afford to lose and the consequences will be paid in the lives and wellbeing of the most vulnerable,” said Henrietta Fore, Unicef executive director.

“Even before the pandemic, there were worrying signs that we were beginning to lose ground in the fight to immunise children against preventable child illness, including with the widespread measles outbreaks two years ago.

“The pandemic has made a bad situation worse. With the equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines at the forefront of everyone’s minds, we must remember that vaccine distribution has always been inequitable, but it does not have to be.”

Undoing years of progress

Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the vaccine alliance, said these are alarming numbers, suggesting the pandemic is unravelling years of progress in routine immunisation and exposing millions of children to deadly, preventable diseases.

“This is a wake-up call – we cannot allow a legacy of Covid-19 to be the resurgence of measles, polio and other killers. We all need to work together to help countries both defeat Covid-19, by ensuring global, equitable access to vaccines, and get routine immunisation programmes back on track. The future health and well-being of millions of children and their communities across the globe depends on it,” he emphasised.