Immunization for children begins to recover after decline in Covid-19 years, UN announces

Vaccination of children around the world, which declined during the Covid-19 pandemic, is resuming. According to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there were four million more children vaccinated in 2022 compared to 2021. Vaccination, however, remains below the level before the health crisis, the UN reported on Tuesday (July 18th).

“So this is good news. On average, countries around the world are recovering and getting closer to the level of immunization they had reached before the pandemic arrived.”said the director of the department of immunization and vaccines at the WHO, Kate O’Brien. “These data are encouraging” underlined the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

A “very uneven” recovery depending on the country

Despite these “promising signs”, coverage still does not reach pre-pandemic levels (18.4 million), which UN agencies say puts children at serious risk of epidemics. And “the recovery is very uneven”reported Kate O’Brien.

Rich countries are doing relatively well and the WHO has also found that “some countries – especially some very large low-middle-income countries, such as India and Indonesia”, recorded a very strong recovery, she noted. On the other hand, “Across all low-income countries, the recovery is just beginning, if it exists in some of these countries”she continued.