Disease outbreak fears as vaccine levels stall

Global childhood vaccination levels have stalled, leaving millions more children un- or under-vaccinated than before the pandemic.

At least 2.7 million additional children remained un- or under-vaccinated last year compared to the pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

Global childhood vaccination levels have stalled, leaving millions more children un- or under-vaccinated than before the pandemic, the UN said on Monday, warning of dangerous coverage gaps enabling outbreaks of diseases such as measles.

Up to 84 per cent of children, or 108 million, last year received three doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP), with the third dose serving as a key marker for global immunisation coverage, according to the UN health and children’s agencies.

That was the same percentage as a year earlier, meaning that modest progress seen in 2022 after the steep drop during the Covid-19 crisis has “stalled”. The rate was 86 per cent in 2019 before the pandemic. At least 2.7 million additional children remained un- or under-vaccinated last year compared to the pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

“We are off track,” World Health Organisation vaccine chief Kate O’Brien said.

Not only has progress stalled, but the number of so-called zero-dose children, who have not ­received a single jab, rose to 14.5 million last year from 13.9 million in 2022 and from 12.8 million in 2019, according to the data published on Monday.

“This puts the lives of the most vulnerable children at risk,” Dr O’Brien warned.

Even more concerning was that more than half of the world’s unvaccinated children live in 31 countries with fragile, conflict-affected settings, where they are especially vulnerable to contracting preventable diseases, due to lacking access to security, ­nutrition and health services.

Children in such countries are also far more likely to miss out on the necessary follow-up jabs.

A full 6.5 million children worldwide did not complete their third dose of the DTP vaccine, which is necessary to achieve disease protection in infancy and early childhood.

The WHO and UNICEF voiced additional concern over lagging vaccination against measles – one of the world’s most infectious diseases – amid an exploding number of outbreaks around the world.

More than 300,000 measles cases were confirmed last year, nearly three times as many as a year earlier.

AFP