UNICEF Canada is sounding the alarm: confidence in childhood immunization has been eroding at home and around the world since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a report released Wednesday by the charity, 82.3% of Canadians believed it was important to vaccinate children in 2021, compared to 90.5% in 2019. UNICEF Canada is concerned about this decline, especially since vaccine coverage among toddlers fell during the health crisis in 112 countries, including Canada, but to a small extent.
“It’s extremely concerning, and not just here at home,” said UNICEF Canada President and CEO David Morley in an interview with The duty. Over the past 30 years, vaccines have represented a real revolution in saving the lives of children around the world. The annual number of under-5 deaths has risen from 13 million in 1990 to 5 million today. »
According to new data released by UNICEF and collected by the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene Tropical Medicine, confidence in childhood vaccinations has declined in around 50 countries, including the United States. , Belgium and Nigeria.
The Republic of Korea, Papua New Guinea, Ghana, Senegal and Japan recorded the largest declines, ranging from 33 to 44 percentage points. On the contrary, China, India and Mexico have seen an increase.
In most countries, including Canada, those under 35 were more likely to be less convinced of the importance of having children vaccinated after the start of the pandemic, the report said. It should be noted that these data relate to the vaccination of children in general, which includes vaccines given during early childhood (measles, whooping cough, etc.) and the vaccine against COVID-19.
Why such hesitation? David Morley struggles to pinpoint the exact reasons. He believes that social media may have played a role. “During the pandemic, even though we knew vaccines could save lives, misinformation started circulating on social media,” he says. Suddenly, there was a platform for people who opposed vaccines. »
Vaccination coverage down
In its report, UNICEF also expresses concern for the approximately 67 million children who missed vaccines between 2019 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The charity says vaccination services have been suspended in “almost every country”, resulting in lower vaccination coverage in 112 states. In Canada, this decline is small, says David Morley.
Still, measles cases worldwide more than doubled in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to UNICEF. During the same period, the number of children paralyzed after contracting poliomyelitis increased by 16%.
David Morley calls on governments to mobilize in order to recall the importance of vaccines for children. “Community leaders also need to talk about it,” he says. It helps because people don’t always trust governments. »
Last December, Montreal Public Health launched a campaign inviting parents to have their children vaccinated against measles. She estimated at that time that 80 to 85% of five-year-old Montrealers were adequately vaccinated against this highly contagious disease. This rate must rise to 95% to achieve herd immunity.
With Clemence Pavic