About 25M Children Missed Childhood Vaccinations Over Past Two Years, Report Finds

The New York Times (7/14) reports about 25 million “children around the world, most of them in the poorest countries, missed some or all of their childhood vaccinations over the past two years because of a combination of conflicts, climate emergencies, misinformation campaigns, pandemic lockdowns and Covid vaccination efforts that diverted resources,” a new UNICEF and WHO analysis found. The fall “is the largest backslide in routine immunization in 30 years, the report said. Combined with rapidly rising rates of malnutrition, it has created conditions that could threaten the lives of millions of young children.”

The AP (7/15) says the report found “25 million children last year failed to get vaccinated against diptheria, tetanus and pertussis, a marker for childhood immunization coverage, continuing a downward trend that began in 2019.”