Millions of children missed measles vaccinations in 2020
November 10, 2021, 7:18 p.m.
Geneva (dpa) Because the corona pandemic has fully involved health workers in many places, 22 million small children worldwide did not receive an initial vaccination against measles in the past year.
The 2020 corona year has significantly increased the risk of devastating measles outbreaks. This comes from an analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US health authority (CDC).
Worldwide, 22 million of the corresponding infants did not receive a primary vaccination against measles last year, three million more than in the previous year, reported WHO and CDC. That was the biggest increase in two decades. In 2020, only 70 percent of children received a necessary second dose for full vaccination protection. According to the WHO, 95 percent of people worldwide are fully vaccinated to prevent outbreaks entirely.
The development can be traced back to corona-related exit restrictions in many countries as well as to the fact that. The number of reported cases fell significantly, but the WHO and CDC assume that death numbers were not or only insufficiently collected in many places. Planned vaccination campaigns in 23 countries would have to be postponed. It is estimated that around 7.5 million people worldwide became infected with measles. Around 60,000 measles were reported worldwide in 2020. It is also estimated that measles vaccination campaigns have prevented more than 30 million hours worldwide in the past 20 years.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211110-99-946324 / 2