Millions of children around the world have missed essential vaccinations because of lockdowns. Now Covid-19 vaccinations portend another year of disruptions.
KAMPALA, Uganda—For two years, lockdowns and other efforts to stem the coronavirus pandemic have disrupted vaccinations against measles and other highly infectious childhood diseases in developing countries., 2022 risks seeing further setbacks in the fight against some of the leading killers of young children in developing countries.
Some 23 million children across the world missed out on essential vaccinations in 2020, the WHO says, the highest number since 2009, alarming health officials at a time when the pandemic has already disrupted treatments for other diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV and malaria, contributing to a rise in deaths. Partial data from selected countries suggest immunization coverage remained below pre-pandemic years in 2021, the WHO says.
Nearly a third of Uganda’s 8.2 million children under five missed routine vaccinations in the first half of 2021, according to the health ministry, as the country struggled under a strict lockdown, which included bans on public transport and a nighttime curfew. Naguru Health Centre in Kampala, where Sarah Nabwire gave birth in April 2020 during Uganda's first Covid-19 wave.
The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo provides an idea of how bad things can get if childhood vaccinations are left unaddressed. The worst measles outbreak in the country’s history sickened nearly half a million children and killed nearly 8,000 between 2018 and 2020. Multiple outbreaks flared up across the country’s forested remote regions last year, with health workers forced to brave impassable roads and the threat of armed groups that vie for control of the area.
“The number of children with access to healthcare, vaccines, and essential services is going down; a year in which we should be looking forward, we are going backward,” said Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
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