2023-07-18 00:01:01
A temporary vaccination center fighting against a measles epidemic which caused the death of ten children, in Bombay (India), on November 23, 2022. INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP
Diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough: the vaccination delay caused worldwide by the Covid-19 pandemic is being caught up. Good news that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) qualify, however, in their report published on Tuesday July 18, because the current levels are still lower than those, pre-pandemic, of 2019. Above all, great disparities exist between the different regions of the world, calling for greater efforts everywhere.
If, in 2021, it was estimated that 24.4 million children had not received one or more vaccines administered by the immunization services of their country, this indicator fell to 20.5 million in 2022. There remains however, still far higher than the 18.4 million unvaccinated children in 2019. The main catch-up involves DTP vaccination, a combination of the three vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis in the same syringe, which serves as a global thermometer for progress or setbacks in vaccination from year to year. Between 2021 and 2022, vaccination coverage with one dose of DPT has increased from 86% to 89% of the children concerned, while that with three doses has increased from 81% to 84%.
Very encouraging signals, which come in particular from large countries in Southeast Asia such as India and Indonesia. “India has in recent years developed a program focusing on the districts furthest behind in immunization by introducing additional health workers and increasing clinic hours. So, although India has suffered a major setback during the pandemic, its program has proven to be very resilient and has led to significant improvements in vaccination coverage figures”says Kate O’Brien, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center and professor of international health and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The weight of the country is such in the Asian region that its efforts allow this part of the globe to regain its 2019 levels.
Rapid changes on the papillomavirus
In other good news, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time, rising from 19% in 2019 to 21% in 2022 among young girls. New countries have taken up the subject and nearly half of those that have not yet implemented a program – and which account for more than a quarter of cervical cancer cases – plan to do so. by 2025. Rapid changes made possible by a gradual increase in industrial production and new recommendations from the WHO stressing in December that a single dose is as effective as a two-dose regimen.
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