By Regina Elaine Vendivil

Nearly 23 million children worldwide have missed out on routine vaccinations last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is reportedly the highest record in more than a decade, therefore causing measles, polio, and other preventable diseases outbreaks, according to the United Nations (UN) agencies Thursday, 15th of July 2021. 

Measles, considered one of the world’s most contagious diseases, has had an outbreak in the Philippines last February 2019 and is said to be fatal to children under the age of five, especially in countries with weak health systems such as those in Africa and Asia, as stated by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Polio on the other hand can cripple or cause severe damage to a child for life. The Polio outbreak in the Philippines was announced last September 2019, after 19 years of being free from the disease. 

In an annual report from WHO and UN’s Children Fund, children are currently more vulnerable to transmissible pathogens due to the global vaccination coverage gap, especially now that COVID-19 restrictions in many countries are starting to ease.

“Large and disruptive” outbreaks of measles have currently been reported in different hotspots including Afghanistan, Mali, Somalia, and Yemen, the report added.

Additionally, about 22.3 million children were failed to be inoculated with their first dose of measles vaccine last year, reportedly the lowest coverage since 2010. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major backsliding on childhood vaccination, taking us back more than a decade,” said WHO Director of Immunization Kate O’Brien.

According to the UNICEF Chief of Immunization Ephrem Lemango, there has been an “alarming increase” in the number of “zero-dose” children, with an addition of almost 3.5 million children who missed out on vaccinations from the record last year. 

Sixty-six (66) countries have postponed at least one immunization campaign against preventable diseases, as countries are still in an ongoing battle with the pandemic.

“In 2021 we have potentially a perfect storm about to happen and we don’t want to get to that perfect storm to be ringing the alarm bell. We are ringing it now,” O’Brien stated.

She added that the WHO has urged countries not to lift the current public health restrictions and implementations prematurely as they slowly recover from the pandemic. 

References:

Agence-France-Presse. (2021, July 15). UN warns of “perfect storm” as childhood vaccination plummets. Manila Bulletin. Retrieved from https://mb.com.ph/2021/07/15/un-warns-of-perfect-storm-as-childhood-vaccination-plummets/

Polio outbreak in the Philippines. (n.d.). World Health Organization. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/westernpacific/emergencies/polio-outbreak-in-the-philippines

Reuters. (2021, July 15). Child diseases on rise as COVID-19 slows routine vaccinations – UN. Rappler. Retrieved from https://www.rappler.com/science/life-health/child-diseases-on-rise-covid-19-slows-routine-vaccinations

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