Due to COVID-19... 17 Million Children Worldwide Missed Vaccinations

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] An analysis has revealed that at least 17 million children worldwide missed the opportunity to receive vaccinations due to COVID-19.

On the 15th, according to CNN, researchers from the University of Washington, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) published these findings in the medical journal The Lancet. The researchers claimed that the number of children who missed vaccinations was 17.4 million higher than it would have been if there had been no COVID-19 pandemic.

The researchers estimated that 30 million children missed the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) vaccine last year. They also estimated that 27.2 million children missed the first dose of the measles vaccine.

On the same day, WHO and UNICEF separately reported that 23 million children worldwide missed vaccinations, an increase of 3.7 million compared to the previous year.

WHO identified that the number of children missing the first dose of the DTP vaccine increased significantly in 10 countries, including India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. The researchers also explained that disruptions in childhood vaccinations occurred in some high-income countries as well, due to the deterioration of healthcare systems while countries focused their capacities on responding to COVID-19.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized, “Children are at risk of contracting preventable diseases such as measles, polio, and meningitis,” and stressed that “investing in childhood vaccinations is much more urgent.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.