Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, global childhood vaccinations have experienced the largest sustained decline in about 30 years, according to a report published this month.
Data collected by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations children’s charity UNICEF show that the percentage of children who received three doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (DTP3) decreased by 5 percentage points between 2019 and 2021, to 81% worldwide (see ‘Childhood immunizations decline’). DTP3 is considered to be a marker of vaccine coverage; if children miss these jabs, they’re probably also missing out on crucial vaccinations for many other diseases.
The backslide in vaccine coverage has pushed the world off-track on efforts to meet global immunization goals, which include reducing the number of children who have not received any routine vaccinations by 50% by 2030.
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However, as countries look to rebound from the pandemic, they will probably shift resources from health care to other sectors, says Giridhar Babu, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India, a non-profit organization in New Delhi. “The next few months should be dedicated to ensure catch-up campaigns, especially in those countries where there’s a high proportion of [unvaccinated] children,” he says. “Saving children’s lives can’t be stopped.”
