AMN/ WEB DESK
Covid-19 pandemic is having a devastating effect on the health and life of children causing the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccination in approximately 30 years, says the official data published by WHO and UNICEF on Friday.
The percentage of children who received three doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3) fell 5 percentage points between 2019 and 2021 to 81 per cent. Consequently, more than 25 million children missed out on one or more doses of DTP through routine immunisation services in 2021 alone. 18 million of the 25 million children did not receive a single dose of DTP during the year, the vast majority of whom live in low- and middle-income countries.
DTP3 coverage has fallen to its lowest level since 2008 which, along with declines in coverage for other basic vaccines. It has pushed the world off-track to meet global goals, including the immunisation indicator for the Sustainable Development Goals, says the WHO, UNICEF report. Compared to the last two years, the number of children missing the immunisation has increased further putting them at risk of devastating but preventable diseases.
First dose measles coverage dropped to 81 percent in 2021 which is the lowest level since 2008. This meant 24.7 million children missed their first measles dose in 2021, 5.3 million more than in 2019. A further 14.7 million did not receive their needed second dose. Similarly, compared to 2019, 6.7 million more children missed the third dose of polio vaccine.
This historic backsliding in rates of immunisation is happening against a backdrop of rapidly rising rates of severe acute malnutrition. The convergence of a hunger crisis with a growing immunisation gap threatens to create the conditions for a child survival crisis.
The WHO-UNICEF report points out that vaccine coverage dropped in every region, with the East Asia and Pacific region recording the steepest reversal in DTP3 coverage, falling nine percentage points in just two years.