Child vaccination rates around the world are stagnating and have still not returned to their pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels, warns the UN on July 15, 2024.
A large third dose
Compared to 2019 levels, before the pandemic, 2.7 million more children were still not vaccinated, or incompletely, in 2023, said the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in a statement spouse. “ Latest trends show that many countries continue to neglect too many children“, lamented UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
In 2023, only 84% of children in the age group who should have received this vaccine, or 108 million, have actually received three doses of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine, with the third dose serving as a marker. key to global vaccination coverage, according to data published by the United Nations health and children's agencies. This percentage has not changed since 2022, which means that the modest progress observed that year, after the sharp decline due to the Covid-19 crisis, has “ mark time“, underline the UN agencies. This rate was 86% in 2019, before the pandemic.
" Late "
“ We're late“Kate O'Brien, head of vaccination at the WHO, admitted to the press. “ Global vaccination coverage has not yet fully recovered from the historic decline observed during the pandemic“, she explained. In 2023, 14.5 million children worldwide would be said to be zero dose » – they had not received any dose of vaccine, a figure increasing since there were 13.9 million in 2022 and 12.8 million in 2019, according to data published Monday.
“ This endangers the lives of the most vulnerable children“, warned Kate O’Brien. Half of the world's unvaccinated children live in 31 conflict-affected countries, where they are particularly exposed to certain preventable diseases due to insecurity and insufficient access to food and health services. In these countries, children are also much more likely to be deprived of needed booster doses.
6.5 million children worldwide have not received their third dose of the DTP vaccine, which is necessary to ensure effective protection. These disparities in vaccination coverage favor the development of certain diseases such as measles.
Concern about measles
WHO and UNICEF have expressed concern over the delay in vaccination against measles – one of the most infectious diseases – in a context explosion of epidemics across the world. “ Measles outbreaks are a warning sign of existing vaccination gaps, which hit the most vulnerable first“, declares the Director General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in the press release.
In 2023, 83% children worldwide received their first dose of the vaccine, the same level as in 2022, but still below the 86% before the pandemic. In addition, only 74% of the vaccinated received the necessary second dose, while vaccination coverage of 95% is necessary to stop the epidemic, underline the UN agencies. More than 300,000 cases of measles have been recorded in 2023, almost three times more than the previous year, argued Ephrem Lemango, head of immunization at UNICEF.
No less than 103 countries have experienced epidemics over the past five years. In contrast, 91 countries with robust measles vaccination coverage have not experienced any outbreaks. Ten countries in crisis, including Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan, have more than half of children not vaccinated against measles, underlined Mr. Lemango.
On the other hand, organizations are delighted with the progress of vaccination against papillomavirus (HPV virus), notably responsible for cervical cancer. However, this vaccine still only reaches 56% of adolescent girls in high-income countries and 23% in low-income countries, well below the target of 90%.
English 
French