Global Childhood Vaccination Rates Still Haven't Recovered from Pandemic Declines

July 15, 2024
Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter

More than four years after the pandemic began, childhood vaccination rates worldwide have yet to recover, a new report shows.

The latest data, issued Monday by the World Health Organization and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), underscore the need for continuing to try to catch-up to pre-pandemic levels.

"The latest trends demonstrate that many countries continue to miss far too many children,"UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a news release announcing the data. "Closing the immunization gap requires a global effort, with governments, partners and local leaders investing in primary healthcare and community workers to ensure every child gets vaccinated, and that overall healthcare is strengthened."

The report, which reflects 2023 vaccination rates, is the world's largest dataset on immunization trends for vaccinations against 14 diseases. It analyzed estimates from 185 countries and used a third dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3) vaccine as the global marker for immunization coverage.

What did the data show?

Progress in returning to pre-pandemic immunization levels has stalled: Worldwide, DTP3 coverage was 84% in 2023, the same as in 2022 but below the 86% recorded in 2019.

"These trends, which show that global immunization coverage has remained largely unchanged since 2022 and -- more alarmingly -- has still not returned to 2019 levels, reflect ongoing challenges with disruptions in healthcare services, logistical challenges, vaccine hesitancy and inequities in access to services," the WHO said in its news release.

There were some bright spots, with many African countries showing the greatest progress in vaccination coverage, the WHO noted.

The report also found HPV vaccine coverage in girls increased 7%, returning to near pre-pandemic levels. Studies have shown the vaccine can slash cervical cancer rates in women by 87%, CNN reported.

Still, HPV vaccine coverage remains well below the 90% target to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem, reaching only 56% of adolescent girls in high-income countries and 23% in low- and middle-income countries, according to the WHO.

Importantly, the data revealed that measles coverage in countries with large or disruptive outbreaks after the pandemic is too low to control further outbreaks. Nearly 35 million children were left with no or only partial protection against measles, a decline the report called "concerning."

Low vaccination rates fueled outbreaks in 103 countries in the past five years, the report found.

The United States has not been spared: In 2023, the 92% of American children that had been vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella by age 2 fell below the federal target of 95%, CNN reported.

"Measles outbreaks are the canary in the coal mine, exposing and exploiting gaps in immunization and hitting the most vulnerable first,"WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the news release. "This is a solvable problem. Measles vaccine is cheap and can be delivered even in the most difficult places. WHO is committed to working with all our partners to support countries to close these gaps and protect the most at-risk children as quickly as possible."

Still, over half of unvaccinated children in 2023 live in countries experiencing conflict and vulnerability.

Some countries that experienced conflict, such as Ukraine, had initial dips in immunization coverage but did not see an overall drop in vaccinations. But in other areas, such as Sudan and parts of the Middle East, that wasn't the case, the report found.

"Until everyone or every country has the ability and the reach for every child to be vaccinated, the vulnerability to have outbreaks, epidemics and potentially pandemics is always imminent,"Dr. Ephrem Lemango, associate director for health and global chief of immunization at UNICEF, told CNN.

More information

The CDC has more on childhood vaccines.

SOURCES: World Health Organization/UNICEF, report, July 15, 2024; CNN

Vaccines