A child in Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi, receives an injection of vaccine against infectious diseases. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – A total of 67 million children around
the world, including nearly 250,000 in Vietnam, missed out on vaccinations
between 2019 and 2021, with vaccination coverage levels decreasing in 112
countries, warned on April 20 in a new report on immunisation.
“The State of the World’s Children 2023: For Every Child,
Vaccination” revealed that 48 million children globally didn’t receive a
single routine vaccine, also known as “zero-dose”.
Vietnam was listed as the 18th country in the world with the
largest number of zero-dose children, as 187,315 children under one year old
did not receive any vaccinations in 2021, the year of the severe fourth wave of
with stringent in place.
Worldwide, the children who are missing out live in the poorest,
most remote and marginalised communities, at times impacted by conflict.
New data produced for the report by the International Centre for
Equity in Health found that in the poorest households, one in five children are
zero-dose. Among the wealthiest, this number is just one 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 cannot go to school and are given
little say in family decisions.
These challenges are greatest in low- and middle-income countries,
where about one in ten children in urban areas are zero doses and one in six in
rural areas.
In Vietnam, data showed that the prevalence of zero-dose children
in urban areas was almost 1.5 times higher than those living in rural areas
(6.3%-4.2%), while the prevalence in the poorest households was almost double
those in the wealthiest (13.5%-6.6%)
“The pandemic interrupted childhood vaccination almost everywhere,
including in Vietnam, especially due to intense demands on health systems, the
diversion of immunisation resources to COVID-19 vaccination, health worker
shortages and stay-at-home measures,” said Lesley Miller, UNICEF
Deputy Representative in Vietnam.
“Added to this is a current delay in the procurement of
vaccines. We are deeply concerned about the possibility of outbreaks of
vaccine-preventable diseases – measles in particular.
“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.”
The report also showed that the public perception of the
importance of vaccines for children declined during the COVID-19 pandemic in 52
out of 55 countries studied.
Vaccine confidence is volatile and time specific. However, the
report warns the confluence of several factors suggests the threat of vaccine
hesitancy may be growing. These factors include uncertainty about the response
to the pandemic, growing access to misleading information, declining trust in
expertise, and political polarisation.
To vaccinate every child, it is vital to strengthen primary health
care and provide its mostly female front-line workers with the resources and
support they need.
The report finds women are at the front line of delivering
vaccinations, but they face low pay, informal employment, lack of formal
training and career opportunities and threats to their security.
To address this child survival crisis, UNICEF is calling on
governments to double down on their commitment to increase financing for
immunisation and to work with stakeholders to unlock available resources, to
urgently implement and accelerate catch-up vaccination efforts to protect
children and prevent disease outbreaks.
The report is urging governments to; urgently identify and reach
all children, especially those who missed during the COVID-19
pandemic; strengthen demand for vaccines, including by building confidence;
prioritise funding to immunisation services and primary health care; and build
resilient health systems through investment in female health workers,
innovation and local manufacturing.
“Vietnam’s successful experience in its mass immunisation campaign
against COVID-19 laid a good foundation for the country to immediately address
the current delays in procurement of vaccines and fast-track catch-up for
children who have missed out on routine immunisations”, said UNICEF Deputy
Representative Miller
“Routine immunisation and strong health systems are our best shot
at preventing future pandemics, unnecessary deaths and suffering.”/.
Source: VietnamPlus
