Number of babies without measles vaccine is highest in 20 years, says WHO

The number of babies who missed the first dose of measles vaccine in 2020 took the biggest leap in 20 years, raising the risk of new outbreaks, according to a report released on Wednesday (10) by the WHO (World Health Organization) and the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) of the United States.

In total, 24 measles vaccination campaigns planned for last year have been delayed worldwide because of the Covid pandemic. The disease is serious in children and can be fatal, said CDC director of global immunization Kevin Cain.

Brazil is one of the countries where the drop in childhood immunization is a concern, according to the director of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations Renato Kfouri. “From 2015 until early 2019, the average vaccination coverage was 90%, 95%. In 2019, it dropped to 80% and, in the pandemic, it dropped to close to 70%,” he says.

According to CDC’s Cain, countries need to act quickly to increase immunization coverage before travel and circulation return to pre-pandemic levels, because measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world, although it is almost entirely preventable through vaccination. .

According to the WHO, the threat of outbreaks grew even with the 80% drop in the number of reported cases of the disease, because the pandemic made health surveillance difficult, and there was a reduction in the number of samples sent to laboratories, reaching the lowest number in ten years .

In total, the number of unvaccinated children worldwide reaches 22 million, an increase of 3 million compared to 2019. 70% of them still missed the second dose, well below the 95% target.

“The evidence indicates that we are seeing the lull before the storm,” said Kate O’Brien, director of immunization at WHO. According to her, the diversion of resources and teams to fight Covid is harmful: “We run the risk of exchanging one deadly disease for another”.

Over the past 20 years, the measles vaccine is estimated to have prevented more than 30 million deaths worldwide. Estimated measles deaths have dropped from about 1.07 million in 2000 to 60,700 in 2020.

The reduction in vaccination, however, was already taking place before the pandemic, according to the director of Unicef ​​for immunization, Ephrem Lemango. “Even small pockets of low measles immunization coverage could fuel unprecedented outbreaks, including in countries where the disease has been considered eradicated,” he said.