news unrolled

Post: Tens of millions of children are at risk of not receiving the measles vaccine

Categories

An international report released on Wednesday warned that vaccinations against measles, a potentially fatal disease, are declining around the world in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has put tens of millions of children at risk.

“For three years, we have been warning about declining immunization rates and rising health risks for children around the world,” said Ephrem Tekle Limango, head of immunization programs at the Fund. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a statement. Vaccination dose.

For his part, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that immunization programs have been “severely affected” by the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that “behind every statistic in this report is a child at preventable risk of illness.

According to a joint report published by the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 40 million children missed a dose of measles vaccine in 2021 (25 million missed the first dose and 14.7 million did not receive the second dose). ????????

As a result, global coverage of the first dose of measles vaccination has fallen to its lowest level since 2008.

Among the countries with the highest number of children not vaccinated against measles are Nigeria, India, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Indonesia.

According to the report, the number of people infected with measles is estimated to reach nine million by 2021, and 128,000 of them will die.

Last year, measles outbreaks spread to 22 countries, mostly in the Middle East and Africa.

In April, the World Health Organization warned that measles cases rose by nearly 80% in the first two months of 2022 compared to the same period last year.

24 unvaccinated children developed measles in Columbus, Ohio, 9 of whom were hospitalized.
The outbreak was first reported last week, with just 4 confirmed cases.
Global Health NOW Twitter

“There is no time to waste,” said Elizabeth Cousins, president of the United Nations Foundation. “We must act urgently to get these life-saving vaccines to every child.”

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that has no cure, but can be prevented with two vaccines.

Measles causes a high fever and rash and is contagious for four days before and after symptoms appear.

Although the symptoms of this disease are usually benign, at other times they can be dangerous, as they can cause complications in the respiratory (pneumonia) and nervous systems (encephalitis), especially in people with health problems.

Source: EuroNews

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *