World Health Organisation (WHO) has said Africa needs to vaccinate about 33million children between 2023 and 2025 to put the continent back on track to achieve the 2030 global immunisation goals which include reducing morbidity and mortality from vaccine-preventable diseases.
WHO, in a statement yesterday said the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine immunisation services has driven up the number of zero-dose and under-immunised children, rising by 16 per cent between 2019 and 2021 and pushing the cumulative total (2019-2021) to around 33 million, representing nearly half the global figure.
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WHO regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said, “The pandemic has seriously set back the region’s vaccination efforts and left millions of children vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases that can cause serious illness and even death.
“As countries strive to emerge from the long shadow of COVID-19, we cannot afford to lose further ground. Every effort must be made to ensure every child has access to essential vaccines.”
The global health body estimates that vaccination coverage in the region will not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2027, unless there is renewed political will and intensified efforts by governments.
They organisation said, “This year, African Vaccination Week and World Immunization Week, from 24–30 April, is being marked under the theme ‘The Big Catch-Up.’ This is a global push by WHO and partners to intensify efforts to reach children who missed vaccinations, as well as to restore and strengthen routine immuniSation programmes.
“To urgently scale up coverage and protect children, WHO and partners are supporting 10 priority African countries – which are among the top 20 countries globally with the highest numbers of zero-dose children – to carry out catch-up routine vaccination campaigns.