Millions of children around the world missed routine childhood vaccinations against diseases such as measles, diphtheria and tetanus during the Covid-19 pandemic, but new data suggests that this decline may be reversing.
Globally, 4 million more children worldwide received routine childhood immunizations last year than in the previous year, according to estimates released Monday by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The number of children who missed all of their routine immunizations fell from 18.1 million in 2021 to 14.3 million last year. Yet that number has not returned to or dropped below what was seen before the pandemic, as 12.9 million children missed all of their vaccinations in 2019.
Similarly, the number of children who missed out on one or more routine vaccinations fell from 24.4 million in 2021 to 20.5 million last year, the data showed. But that’s still more than the 18.4 million children who missed out on one or more vaccinations in 2019.
“Until more countries mend the gaps in routine immunization coverage, children everywhere will remain at risk of contracting and dying from diseases we can prevent. Viruses like measles do not recognize borders,” she said. “Efforts must urgently be strengthened to catch up children who missed their vaccination, while restoring and further improving immunization services from pre-pandemic levels.”
Among the 73 countries that reported substantial declines in childhood immunization coverage during the Covid-19 pandemic, 15 had returned to pre-pandemic vaccination levels, 24 are en route to recovery, and slightly fewer than half – 34 – have stayed stagnant or continued to see declines, according to the data.
UNICEF and WHO researchers measure a “substantial decline” as a drop of 5 percentage points or more in vaccination coverage compared by year. Smaller fluctuations in immunization coverage were considered not unusual before the pandemic.
“These data are encouraging, and a tribute to those who have worked so hard to restore life-saving immunization services after two years of sustained decline in immunization coverage,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the news release. “But global and regional averages don’t tell the whole story and mask severe and persistent inequities. When countries and regions lag, children pay the price.”
The improvements in childhood immunizations appear to be concentrated in a few countries; South Asia, which reported increases in immunization coverage even before the pandemic, was among regions with a more rapid and robust recovery. Eight countries overall accounted for 3.8 million children out of the 4 million more who were reached last year: India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan and Tanzania, Lemango said.