Globally, 4 million more children have been vaccinated, but recovery from coronavirus is slow

Childhood vaccinations by global services reached 4 million more children in 2022 than the previous year, and the recovery from the coronavirus is slower in low-income countries, official data showed on Tuesday.

World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) global child immunization has begun to recover from the downturn caused by the pandemic, according to a joint statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), with the most recent target numbers for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine (DTP).

Data released on Tuesday by the two global organizations “show promising signs of a recovery in immunization services in some countries” but coverage “still falls short of pre-pandemic levels, putting children at high risk of disease outbreaks.”

Of the 73 countries that saw significant declines in coverage during the pandemic, according to WHO and UNICEF, 15 have recovered to pre-pandemic levels, 24 are recovering and, most alarmingly, 34 have remained unchanged or are continuing to decline.

They indicate that 20.5 million children did not receive one or more vaccines administered through routine immunization services in 2022, compared with 24.4 million children in 2021.

Despite this improvement, the number remains higher than the 18.4 million children left unvaccinated in 2019 before the pandemic-related interruptions, international organizations point out, advocating “the need for continued efforts to rebuild and strengthen the system.”

Of the 20.5 million children who did not receive one or more doses of the DPT vaccine in 2022, 14.3 million did not receive a single dose, the so-called “zero doses”.

That number represents an improvement from 18.1 million zero-dose children in 2021, but remains higher than the 12.9 million children in 2019, the report indicates.

“These data are encouraging and a tribute to those who have worked hard to restore life-saving immunization services after two years of steady decline in immunization coverage,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

However, he believes that “global and regional averages do not tell the whole story and mask serious and persistent inequalities” in some countries, with progress being confirmed mainly in countries “with good resources and large child populations, such as India and Indonesia”. .

These values ​​”mask a slower recovery or even continued decline in most low-income countries, especially in regards to measles vaccination,” the official warned in a joint statement.

Vaccination against measles, one of the most contagious pathogens, has not led to the same positive recovery as other vaccines, putting an additional 35.2 million children at risk of measles, according to data from international organizations.

“Behind the positive trend lies serious concern,” Katherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, also said in a statement defending “the urgency of stepping up efforts to reach more children and prevent deaths as viruses, like measles, are not recognized.” borders”

The data show that South Asia, which saw a gradual and steady increase in coverage in the decade before the pandemic, “showed a faster and more sustainable recovery than regions that experienced prolonged declines, such as Latin America and the Caribbean.”

The African region, “which is lagging behind in recovery, faces an additional challenge: as the child population grows, countries need to scale up routine immunization services every year to maintain coverage.”

First HPV vaccination coverage [Vírus do Papiloma Humano] surpassed pre-pandemic levels and reached the same number of girls with immunization programs in 2022 as in 2019.

WHO and UNICEF also note that several organizations are working to accelerate recovery across all regions and across all immunization platforms as part of a global campaign calling on governments to reach out to children who were not vaccinated during the pandemic.