Thanks to COVID vaccines, more people were immunized in 2021 than in any other year in history. Yet that same year, with tragic irony, more children ended up at risk of highly preventable infectious diseases than before the pandemic began.
In a typical year Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance—an international immunization organization for which I am CEO—provides the vaccines to immunize nearly half the world’s children. The gradual increase in vaccination has meant a 70 percent reduction in vaccine-preventable diseases, which, in turn, has contributed to a more than 50 percent reduction in the mortality of children under age five.
This decline in all countries, particularly poorer nations, is pretty grim news, especially considering that in the decades preceding the pandemic, there was huge progress in reducing the number of children at risk from infectious disease. In 1985, for example, DTP3 coverage for all children hovered just below 50 percent; it peaked at 86 percent in 2017.
When the COVID pandemic first struck, it was clear that lockdowns and other disruptions would have a short-term effect on immunization levels. The new data reveal that that effect has been more sustained and deep-rooted than anyone anticipated, partly because health systems were so weak to begin with but also because of other compounding factors, such as the rise in vaccine hesitancy and the effect the pandemic has had on economies.
The fact that coverage didn’t fall lower in these countries is a testament to the investments they have made in relatively resilient immunization systems in recent years—and that they have continued to prioritize since the pandemic began. This allowed them to perform better than most other health and social service interventions.
no child should die because of the covid vaccines....
The scientific community has lost all my respect.
Yeah. Punish the anti-vax parents.