Medieval Disease Spreads to Over a Hundred Countries, WHO Sounds the Alarm

Global health concerns have been raised after a recent WHO and UNICEF report shows a decline in essential childhood vaccinations since the COVID-19 pandemic

According to a report published by The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), last year, fewer children worldwide received essential vaccinations compared to the period before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The report noted that in 2023, 84% of children globally were vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough. This marks a slight decline compared to the last pre-pandemic year, 2019. Additionally, the number of children who did not receive even a single dose of the triple vaccine increased from 12.8 million before the pandemic to 14.5 million.

During the pandemic, numerous vaccination programs around the world faced disruptions, resulting in delays or cancellations of vaccine administration in many areas.

Katherine O'Brian, a WHO expert, highlighted that the pandemic also led to a rise in vaccine skepticism, contributing to child mortality. She further pointed out that people with migrant backgrounds in Europe spread the vaccine skepticism experienced in wealthier countries to their home countries.

Ephrem Lemango, an expert from UNICEF, added that the effectiveness of immunization in poorer countries is already limited due to low trust in healthcare institutions and difficult access to vaccines.

Armed conflicts in certain regions pose additional challenges, with over half of the unvaccinated children living in such unstable, war-torn conditions, making them particularly vulnerable.

The report emphasized that over the past five years, measles outbreaks have occurred in more than a hundred countries. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus interpreted the measles outbreaks as a sign of significant gaps in immunization coverage.

Historically, measles outbreaks have been devastating, with the disease claiming many lives. For instance, in 1529, measles killed two-thirds of the indigenous population in Honduras and Central America who had survived smallpox. The situation did not improve significantly by the 19th century, particularly in regions unfamiliar with measles. In 1848, for example, 40,000 of Hawaii's 148,000 residents died from a measles outbreak.