After a partial recovery in 2022, global vaccination rates in the formative years stagnated in 2023, remaining below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. This knowledge comes from a new joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). ).
Contrary to the global trend, Brazil registered innovations in the maximum indicators. The country has fallen from the list of the 20 countries with the highest number of unvaccinated young people in the world. In 2021, Brazil ranked seventh on this list.
The newly published paper represents the world’s largest and most comprehensive database of vaccination estimates and provides data on vaccination trends against 14 diseases.
In 2023, globally, the number of young people who received 3 doses of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine, the trivalent vaccine a global marker of vaccination in the formative years, remained stagnant in 84% (108 million), the same percentage. like in 2022.
On the other hand, the number of so-called “zero dose” children, who have received any dose of vaccine, increased from 13. 9 million in 2022 to 14. 5 million in 2023.
In Brazil, however, the number of young people who did receive a dose decreased from 418,000 in 2022 to 103,000 in 2023. Coverage of the first dose of the vaccine, which is administered in the country through the National Vaccination Program under the called pentavalent vaccine, higher from 84% in 2022 to 96% last year.
Brazil’s strong functionality, with the largest youth population in Latin America, has contributed to results in the Americas, which is the only WHO region on a positive trajectory to reach the “zero-dose” aid target for TTD youth by 2030.
The resumption of vaccination policy in Brazil was welcomed at the report’s press conference.
“There has been significant improvement in Brazil,” said Dr. Katherine O’Brien, WHO’s director of immunization, vaccines and biologicals. “The country has made a lot of progress in its recovery between 2022 and 2023, and this is one of the main reasons why knowledge of the Americas is better.
“Of course, Brazil is such a big country and has such a strong vaccination program that it’s vital to see this improvement,” he added.
The Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, welcomed these results and recalled that “since 2016, Brazil faced increasing declines in the vaccination policy of vaccines in the immunization calendar of the training years. ”
“All of this was possible thanks to the determination and work of fitness professionals and state and municipal officials. Our thanks to all those who mobilized, to whom the young people were given to update their logs. vaccination and that they trusted the unified fitness system. “
Despite calls from WHO and UNICEF to scale up immunization policy worldwide, the number of young people vaccinated remains below pre-pandemic levels.
In 2023, there were 2. 7 million more unvaccinated or underimmunized young people than in 2019, the last year before the physical emergency of COVID-19.
Countries’ health systems are vulnerable to problems that hinder good immunization during the formative years, adding conflict, lack of investment, and disease outbreaks.
“Among unvaccinated or undervaccinated children, an estimated 10. 8 million infants (51%) in institutionalized, social, or conflict-affected countries. Children living in such difficult cases are the most vulnerable to outbreaks and require urgent care and support. ” according to the report.
Due to its high transmissibility, measles is an indicator of vaccination gaps in populations. The new data implies that vaccination policy against the disease has stalled.
To avoid outbreaks, avoid deaths and achieve disease elimination goals, a 95% policy is necessary. However, by 2023, only 83% of international young people will have received their first dose of the measles vaccine. The number of those who received the second dose increased compared to last year to 74%.
In the last five years, measles has spread to parts of the world. Outbreaks of the disease have occurred in 103 countries and, according to the report, low vaccination rates (80% or less) have been a significant factor in contagion. On the other hand, 91 countries with a maximum vaccination policy have not experienced an epidemic.
“This is a challenge that can be solved. The measles vaccine is affordable and can be administered even in the most challenging settings,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, who reiterated the organization’s commitment to “help countries close those gaps. “and their children. ” to the most vulnerable young people as temporarily as possible. »
The new report reports positive data on some vaccines, adding those against human papillomavirus (HPV), meningitis, pneumococcal disease, polio and rotavirus.
Globally, the percentage of adolescents who have received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer, increased from 20% in 2022 to 27% in 2023.
Factors contributing to these effects come from the use of a single-dose schedule for the HPV vaccine, in addition to the primary distribution of the vaccine in Gavi-supported countries, such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nigeria.
This story was translated from the Portuguese edition of Medscape with various editorial tools, adding artificial intelligence as a component of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
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