JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nearly thirteen million children missed one or more vaccines in Africa between 2019 and 2021 due to the disruptive effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the continent vulnerable to more outbreaks and facing a “child survival crisis. “” a new UNICEF report said Thursday.
In the midst of a global “setback” in immunization of the formative years during those 3 years, which according to the United Nations Children’s Fund is the worst regression in immunizations of the formative years in 30 years, Africa is the region with the number of unvaccinated and underimmunized youth. UNICEF said 12. 7 million young Africans did not receive one or more immunizations and 8. 7 million did not receive any vaccinations between 2019 and 2021.
The report, “The State of the World’s Children 2023,” confirms the above indications and presents further knowledge that it appears the pandemic “has disrupted the vaccination of children almost everywhere,” UNICEF said.
Half of the world’s 20 countries with the number of unvaccinated youth, known as “zero-dose” youth, are in Africa, UNICEF said. In Nigeria, 2. 2 million young people have never been vaccinated. In Ethiopia, an additional 1. 1 million people are not vaccinated against the diseases.
UNICEF’s report comes as Africa, but also other parts of the world, are reporting outbreaks on a scale not seen in years. 20 years. Nearly 700 young people died in a measles outbreak in Zimbabwe last year. Most young Zimbabweans were not vaccinated against the disease, the government said.
UNICEF said that “intense demands on fitness systems, diversion of immunization resources towards COVID-19 vaccination, fitness shortages and stay-at-home measures” have contributed to people not being vaccinated worldwide. The same has happened with conflicts, climate replacement and vaccine hesitancy.
But in Africa, the pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the “lack of resilience and persistent weaknesses in fitness systems and fitness care number one,” UNICEF said.
Last year, 34 of Africa’s 54 countries experienced outbreaks such as measles, cholera and poliovirus, UNICEF said, adding that there is a “child survival crisis” on the continent.
The resurgence of these diseases serves as a clear warning for Africa, said Mohamed M. Fall, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.
“African leaders will need to act now and take strong policy action to close the immunization gap and ensure that all young people are vaccinated and protected,” he said.
UNICEF noted that children born before the pandemic had already passed the age at which they would generally be vaccinated and were under pressure from the need for the government to “compensate” for those missed vaccines to avoid more deadly outbreaks.
Also on Thursday, the World Health Organization released its assessment, saying Africa wants to vaccinate some 33 million young people by 2025 to “get back to normal” and in the “disruptive wake” of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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