It is necessary to vaccinate all children to keep them safe from many serious diseases and infections throughout life. Health experts say that children should get the first dose of most vaccines during the first two years. In India, under the 'India's Universal Immunization Program', 12 different vaccines are provided free of cost to children through the government health system. This includes vaccines like BCG, OPV, Hepatitis B, Pentavalent, Rotavirus Vaccine, DPT and TT. However, in the last few years, there has been a significant decrease in the pace of vaccination of children in the country.
The recent report of UNICEF and WHO related to this is a matter of concern. According to this, the number of children who did not get any vaccine in India in the year 2023 is around 16 lakhs. After Nigeria, India is the second country where the highest number of children did not get any vaccine in 2023. In the year 2023, Nigeria had the highest number of children at 21 lakh who did not receive any vaccination.
16 lakh children could not be vaccinated
According to a recent report by UNICEF and WHO, vaccination has improved in 2023 as compared to 2021, but it is still a serious issue. In the year 2021, 27.3 lakh children did not receive a single vaccine, which has come down to 16 lakh in 2023. After India, other countries where cases of zero-dose vaccine have been recorded in 2023 include Ethiopia, Congo, Sudan and Indonesia.
It is worth noting that China is ranked 18th in the list of top 20 zero-dose countries, while Pakistan is ranked 10th.
World Health Organization expressed concern
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday called on countries in the South-East Asia region to further strengthen efforts at all levels so that such children can be identified and vaccinated. Experts said, there is a need for immediate and quick action on the growing number of unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children. We need to find out where and why these children are left out. Priority should be given to reach them as soon as possible.
Saima Wazed, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia, said, safe and effective vaccines are available to protect against deadly diseases, vaccination is necessary to keep children safe for life.
Millions of children deprived of measles
Health experts say that children may be at risk of many infectious diseases in the future due to not getting early vaccines. Earlier this year, many reports were raising concerns that vaccination in children was greatly affected due to increased health pressure during the Corona epidemic, due to which cases of measles disease are increasing rapidly in many countries including India and America.
According to a report by the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of children who did not receive the first dose of measles-controlling vaccine (MCV1) in India in 2023 was close to 16 lakh. Earlier, an estimated 11 lakh children in India missed their crucial first dose of measles vaccine in 2022. This puts India among the 10 countries with the highest number of children who did not receive the first vaccine.
(PC: Freepik)
