A child is being vaccinated with an oral anti-polio and measles vaccine at Barangay 183 in Villamor Pasay City, during the Department of Health’s “Chikiting Ligtas” Vaccine Supplemental Immunization on May 2, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Agence France-Presse

<div><strong><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/172101103387120230502-chikiting-ligtas-pasay-MT6.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A child is being vaccinated with an oral anti-polio and measles vaccine at Barangay 183 in Villamor Pasay City, during the Department of Health’s “Chikiting Ligtas” Vaccine Supplemental Immunization on May 2, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></strong></div><div><br/></div><p>GENEVA, Switzerland — Global childhood vaccination levels have stalled, leaving millions more children un- or under-vaccinated than before the pandemic, the UN said Monday, warning of dangerous coverage gaps enabling outbreaks of diseases like measles.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/08/19/unicef-ph-immunization-coverage-dropping-at-alarming-rate">• UNICEF: PH immunization coverage dropping at alarming rate</a></div><p>In 2023, 84 percent of children, or 108 million, received three doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP), with the third dose serving as a key marker for global immunization coverage, according to data published by the UN health and children&#x27;s agencies.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/3/21/doh-urges-vaccination-as-pertussis-measles-cases-rise-1143">• DOH urges vaccination as pertussis, measles cases rise</a></div><p>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 &quot;stalled&quot;, the organizations warned. The rate was 86 percent in 2019 before the pandemic.</p><p>&quot;The latest trends demonstrate that many countries continue to miss far too many children,&quot; UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a joint statement.</p><p>In fact, 2.7 million additional children remained un- or under-vaccinated last year compared to the pre-pandemic levels in 2019, the organizations found.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;OFF TRACK&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>&quot;We are off track,&quot; World Health Organization vaccine chief Kate O&#x27;Brien told reporters.</p><p>&quot;Global immunization coverage has yet to fully recover from the historic backsliding that we saw during the course of the pandemic.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/4/19/vaccination-helps-prevent-diseases-health-expert-says-2017">• Vaccination helps prevent diseases, health expert says</a></div><p>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 Monday.</p><p>&quot;This puts the lives of the most vulnerable children at risk,&quot; O&#x27;Brien warned.</p><p>Even more concerning is that more than half of the world&#x27;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.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/27/23/doh-lgus-urged-to-beef-up-vaccination-of-children">• DOH, LGUs urged to beef up vaccination of children after &#x27;alarming&#x27; Unicef report</a></div><p>Children in such countries are also far more likely to miss out on the necessary follow-up jabs.</p><p>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, Monday&#x27;s datasets showed.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;CANARY IN THE COALMINE&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The WHO and UNICEF voiced additional concern over lagging vaccination against measles -- one of the world&#x27;s most infectious diseases -- amid an exploding number of outbreaks around the world.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/4/18/doh-asks-public-to-get-vaccinated-vs-measles-1906">• DOH asks public to get vaccinated vs measles amid rise in cases</a></div><p>&quot;Measles outbreaks are the canary in the coalmine, exposing and exploiting gaps in immunization and hitting the most vulnerable first,&quot; WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the statement.</p><p>In 2023, only 83 percent of children worldwide received their first dose of the measles vaccine through routine health services -- the same level as in 2022 but down from 86 percent before the pandemic.</p><p>And only 74 percent received their second necessary dose, while 95-percent coverage is needed to prevent outbreaks, the organizations pointed out.</p><p>&quot;This is still too low to prevent outbreaks and achieve elimination goals,&quot; Ephrem Lemango, UNICEF immunization chief, told reporters.</p><p>He pointed out that more than 300,000 measles cases were confirmed in 2023 -- nearly three times as many as a year earlier.</p><p>And a full 103 countries have suffered outbreaks in the past five years, with low vaccination coverage of 80 percent or lower seen as a major factor.</p><p>By contrast, 91 countries with strong measles vaccine coverage experienced no outbreaks.</p><p>&quot;Alarmingly, nearly three in four infants live in places at the greatest risk of measles outbreaks,&quot; Lemango said, pointing out that 10 crisis-wracked countries, including Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan, account for more than half of children not vaccinated against measles.</p><p>On a more positive note, strong increases were seen in vaccination against the cervical cancer-causing HPV virus.</p><p>But that vaccine is still only reaching 56 percent of adolescent girls in high-income countries and 23 percent in lower-income countries -- far below the 90-percent-target.</p><div><strong>— By Nina Larson, </strong><span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><strong>Agence France-Presse</strong></span><strong> </strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U4L7AmnA4l0?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>Global childhood vaccination levels have stalled, leaving millions more children un- or under-vaccinated than before the pandemic, the UN said Monday.</p>

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

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UN alarmed as childhood immunization levels stall

UN alarmed as childhood immunization levels stall

Agence France-Presse

Published Jul 15, 2024 11:09 AM PHT

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