Child vaccinations plummet due to Covid-19 - WHO

The focus on Covid-19  has led to a sharp decline in the number of Kenyan children being vaccinated for potentially deadly diseases.

WHO and Unicef said on Thursday worldwide immunisation against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough over the first four months of the year has declined for the first time in nearly three decades.

“We must prevent a further deterioration in vaccine coverage and urgently resume vaccination programmes before children’s lives are threatened by other diseases. We cannot trade one health crisis for another,” Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore said.

WHO said vaccination of all children must resume and can be carried out safely during the pandemic.

The UN agencies’ joint statement said,  “The likelihood a child born today will be fully vaccinated with all the globally recommended vaccines by the time she reaches the age of five is less than 20 per cent.”

Before the pandemic hit, progress on immunisation coverage was stalling at 85 per cent for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and measles.

Due to Covid-19, at least 30 measles vaccination campaigns are now at risk of being cancelled.

This could result in further outbreaks of measles this year and beyond.

“This is due to disruptions in the delivery and uptake of immunisation services caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” WHO and Unicef said.

Lack of immunisations has been linked to reluctance to leave home, transport interruptions, economic hardships and restrictions on movement and fear of exposure to people with Covid-19.

Many health workers have been unavailable following travel restrictions or redeployment to Covid-19 response duties as well as a lack of protective equipment leading to programme closures.

These disruptions threaten to reverse hard-won progress to reach more children and adolescents with a wider range of vaccines, already hampered by a decade of stalling coverage.

Vaccine coverage estimates for 2019 show that improvements such as expansion of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and greater protection for children against more diseases are in danger of lapsing.

“Despite restrictions, vaccines can be delivered safely during the pandemic. We are calling on countries to ensure these essential life-saving programmes continue,” WHO said.

(Edited by V. Graham)