New Delhi: The United Nations (UN) on Monday issued a dangerous warning on the immunisation gap among children that could enable the outbreaks of diseases like measles. The UN revealed that global childhood vaccination levels have stalled, as a result, this has left millions of children un or under-vaccination as compared to the time before the pandemic.
According to the data released by the UN Health and Children’s agencies, about 84 per cent of kids or 108 million of them received three doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis in 2023. Moreover, this was given with the third dose serving as a benchmark for vaccination coverage worldwide.
Vaccination thwarted since 2022
The percentage was the same as a year prior which means that a slight progress was noticed in 2022 after a steep decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, warned the UN.
As per the report, the rate was 86 per cent in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, 2.7 million more children remained un- or under-vaccinated last year as compared to the pre-pandemic levels in 2019, the organisation noted.
The UNICEF Chief Catherine Russell said in a joint statement said, the latest trends showed that many countries continue to miss far too many children, reported AFP.
Not only did vaccination stall, but children received zero dose
Apart from the stalled or slow vaccination, there are several children among so-called zero-children, who have not received a single dose. This number jumped to 14.5 million the previous year from 13.9 million in 2022 and from 12.8 million in 2019.
Over half of the world’s children are unvaccinated
On the other hand, one thing that is even more worrying is that more than half of the unvaccinated children living in 31 countries with fragile, conflict-affected areas are becoming more prone to contract diseases due to inaccessibility of security, nutrition and health services.
In such countries, children are more likely to miss out on important follow-up vaccinations. The data further noted that a complete 6.5 million children across the globe did not complete their third dose of the DTP vaccine which is crucial to get protection from the disease in children.
According to the data released by the UN Health and Children’s agencies, about 84 per cent of kids or 108 million of them received three doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis in 2023. Moreover, this was given with the third dose serving as a benchmark for vaccination coverage worldwide. Health Conditions Health News: Latest News from Health Care, Mental Health, Weight Loss, Disease, Nutrition, Healthcare
