Unicef says 67 million children missed routine vaccinations because of Covid

The Unitied Nations children's agency has said that some 67 million children missed some or all common vaccines globally between 2019 and 2021, because of lockdowns and health care disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The United Nations children's agency Unicef says 67 million children missed out on vaccines because of the Covid pandemic. © UNICEF

The report from Unicef, published on Wednesday, says that "more than a decade of hard-earned gains in routine childhood immunisation have been eroded," adding that getting back on track "will be challenging."

Unicef says the vaccination of millions was "severely disrupted," while 48 million missed out on routine vaccines entirely. This has led to concerns about potential polio and measles outbreaks.

Vaccine coverage among children declined in 112 countries and the number of children vaccinated worldwide slipped 5 points to 81 percent – a low not seen since 2008.

Africa and South Asia were particularly hard hit.

🚨 RED ALERT 🚨

67 million children missed out on life-saving routine vaccines during the pandemic.

67 million children are not protected against preventable diseases.

67 million children need vaccines to #BuildBackImmunity. pic.twitter.com/4bgycPEPS4

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) April 20, 2023

Measles outbreaks doubled during Covid

The report added: "Worryingly, the backsliding during the pandemic came at the end of a decade when, in broad terms, growth in childhood immunisation had stagnated."

Vaccines save 4.4 million lives each year, a number the United Nations reckons could jump to 5.8 million by 2030 if its ambitious targets to leave "no one behind" are met. 

Before the introduction of a vaccine in 1963, measles killed 2.6 million people each year, most of them children.

By 2021, that number had fallen to 128,000.

During the Covid pandemic, the percentage of children vaccinated against measles dropped from 86 percent to 81 percent, and the number of cases in 2022 doubled compared to 2021.

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Slide in vaccine confidence

The fall in vaccination rates could also be compounded by other crises from climate change to food insecurity.

According to the Unicef report's chief editor, Brian Keeley, "You've got increasing number of conflicts, economic stagnation in a lot of countries, climate emergencies, and so on ... This all sort of makes it harder and harder for health systems and countries to meet vaccination needs."

Meanwhile, Unicef has called on governments "to double-down on their commitment to increase financing for immunisation" with special attention on accelerating "catch-up" vaccination efforts for those who missed their shots.

The report also raised concerns about a drop in people's confidence in vaccines, seen in 52 out of 55 countries surveyed.

In a statement, Unicef's executive director Catherine Russell said: "We cannot allow confidence in routine immunisations to become another victim of the pandemic.

"Otherwise, the next wave of deaths could be of more children with measles, diphtheria or other preventable diseases."

However, the report states that overall support for vaccines "remains relatively strong."