The Covid-19 crisis and lack of access to care and information have caused the largest continuous decline in childhood vaccination once morest other diseases in nearly 30 years, according to the UN.
“This is the largest continuing decline in vaccination in a generation,” said Ephrem Tekle Lemango, UNICEF’s deputy director for health and immunization via videoconference from New York.
According to a joint WHO/UNICEF report published on Thursday, the proportion of children having received the three doses of the vaccine once morest diphtheria, tetanus and poliomyelitis (DTP), a benchmark in terms of global vaccination coverage, fell by 86% in 2019. to 81% in 2021.
Some 25 million children missed one or more doses of this DTP vaccine in 2021 – 2 million more than in 2020, and 6 million more than in 2019.
Nearly three quarters of these children have not even received a dose, the majority of them being in countries of the South with middle or low incomes such as India, Nigeria, Indonesia, Ethiopia or the Philippines.
This decline recorded in 2020 and 2021 follows a decade of improvements.
In particular: “the significant impact” of the pandemic whose economic consequences “have forced parents and families to choose between feeding themselves and vaccinating their children”, according to the deputy director, while the confinements have also contributed to this decrease. .
– “Access to services” –
Misinformation regarding vaccines, on the rise during the pandemic, especially on social networks, does not play a major role, however.
“We are concerned regarding misinformation and misinformation, but it is important to recognize that this is not the main factor (explaining) why children are not vaccinated,” said the WHO director for immunization. , vaccines and biologicals, Dr. Kate O’Brien.
Rather, it is “access to” care services and their “quality” that is in question, according to Dr. O’Brien, recalling, however, the importance of monitoring the information circulating within local communities, to quickly detect the circulation of fake news.
If necessary, it is then up to the “trusted leaders” of each community to confront them to “ensure that people have correct information” concerning vaccination.
While the pandemic has caused the postponement of around forty vaccination campaigns in an equivalent number of countries, Dr. O’Brien listed the measures countries might put in place to make up for the accumulated delay.
-Campaigns-
She calls in particular for the establishment of vaccination campaigns “to catch up with children missed out in the past”, requiring the support of a “political leadership”, but also adequate funding.
“As we try to catch up, it will be necessary to identify these children (…) and reach them through targeted campaigns”, adds Mr. Lemango.
“It means additional funding, and new calls for (obtaining) vaccines” and above all “mobilizing these communities to make these campaigns a success.”
