The United Nations launched on Monday, April 24, a vast global campaign to revive the vaccination of children around the world, which has experienced a dangerous slowdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in a resurgence of contagious diseases such as measles. and poliomyelitis.
The World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the international organization Gavi (which works to ensure better access to vaccines for children in poor countries) and the Gates Foundation are part of this campaign of “big catch-up”.
“Millions of children and adolescents, especially in low-income countries, have missed [the opportunity to receive] life-saving vaccinations, while epidemics of these deadly diseases have increased,” said the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “A catch-up is a top priority. No child should die from a vaccine-preventable disease,” he added.
Vaccination rates declined in more than a hundred countries at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, more than 25 million children missed at least one vaccination, including 18 million who completely missed routine routine vaccinations, according to WHO. “Outbreaks of preventable diseases, such as measles, diphtheria, poliomyelitis and yellow fever have become more frequent and more severe,” WHO said.
« Epidemic explosives »
The “big catch up” campaign will focus on twenty countries where three-quarters of the world’s children live who missed vaccines in 2021: Afghanistan, Angola, Brazil, Cameroon, Chad, North Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC ), Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, Madagascar, Mexico, Mozambique, Burma, Tanzania and Vietnam.
According to WHO vaccines chief Kate O’Brien, the “sharp decline” in vaccinations during the Covid-19 pandemic has followed “almost a decade of stagnant progress”. This is not only about correcting the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, but also about addressing “the systemic challenges in vaccination”, she told the press, adding that the decline in 5% of vaccinations during the pandemic resulted in “at least a 5% increase in infant mortality”. Ms O’Brien warned of outbreaks of measles, a highly contagious and potentially deadly disease. When immunization rates drop, it leads to “explosive epidemics,” she said.
For UNICEF Director General Catherine Russell, the challenge goes beyond the prevention of contagious diseases. “Routine routine immunizations usually mark children’s first entry into their healthcare system, and children who miss their first vaccinations are at greater risk of long-term exclusion from healthcare,” she explained. If these children are delayed in vaccinating, “the risk of more deadly epidemics increases,” she warned.