World Immunization Week, celebrated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed to protect people from vaccine-preventable diseases and to catch up on those who were missed during the pandemic

Ahead of the World Immunisation Week (WIW), a global healthcare event, celebrated every year between April 24-30, WHO urged member countries to start vaccinating millions of children who missed out on vaccines during the pandemic, restore essential immunization coverage to at least 2019 levels and strengthen primary health care to deliver immunization.

According to a UNICEF report released on April 20, 67 million children missed out on one or more vaccinations over the last three years due to service disruption caused by strained health systems and diversion of scarce resources, conflict and fragility, and decreased confidence.

UNICEF’s 2023 immunization report points out that the pandemic interrupted childhood vaccination almost everywhere, especially due to intense demands on health systems, the diversion of immunization resources to COVID-19 vaccination, health worker shortages and stay-at-home measures.

The report says a total of 67 million children missed out on vaccinations between 2019 and 2021, with vaccination coverage levels decreasing in 112 countries. Children born just before or during the pandemic are now moving past the age when they would normally be vaccinated, underscoring the need for urgent action to catch up on those who were missed and prevent deadly disease outbreaks.

In 2022, for example, the number of measles cases was more than double the total in the previous year. The number of children paralysed by polio was up 16 percent year-on-year in 2022. When comparing the 2019 to 2021 period with the previous three-year period, there was an eight-fold increase in the number of children paralysed by polio, highlighting the need to ensure sustained vaccination effort.

Of the 67 million children who missed out on routine vaccination between 2019 and 2021, 48 million didn’t receive a single routine vaccine, also known as “zero-dose”. As of the end of 2021, India and Nigeria (both countries with very large birth cohorts) had the largest numbers of zero-dose children, but increases in the numbers of zero-dose children were especially notable in Myanmar and the Philippines.

New data produced for the report by the International Center for Equity in Health found that in the poorest households, 1 in 5 children are zero-dose while in the wealthiest, it is just 1 in 20. It found unvaccinated children often live in hard-to-reach communities, such as rural areas or urban slums. They often have mothers who have not been able to go to school and who are given little say in family decisions. These challenges are greatest in low and middle income countries, where about 1 in 10 children in urban areas are zero dose and 1 in 6 in rural areas. In upper-middle-income countries, there is almost no gap between urban and rural children.

World Immunization Week, celebrated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed to protect people from vaccine-preventable diseases. Under the banner of ‘The Big Catch-Up’, WHO is working with partners to help countries get back on track to ensure more people are protected from preventable diseases.

The ultimate goal of World Immunization Week is for more children, adults – and their communities – to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases, allowing them to live happier, healthier lives.

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