40 million children worldwide are denied the measles vaccine

Still doubting the effectiveness of measles vaccines? International news should serve as a reminder. This highly contagious viral infection infected 9 million people in 2021 and killed 128,000. The only way to effectively combat measles remains mass vaccination, but as a direct result of the Covid crisis, public health campaigns have declined in Worldwide. Currently, the health of 40 million children is threatened by lack of sufficient immunization.

Vaccination is the only way to fight measles

Measles is a viral disease that causes skin rashes and high fever. Sometimes it is accompanied by pulmonary complications, which are potentially fatal. 9 million people are reported to have contracted measles worldwide in 2021, resulting in 128,000 deaths.

This year’s data do not predict any improvement, on the contrary: cases increased by 80% during the first months of 2022. In addition to vaccination shortages, there is an abandonment of barrier gestures and this easing favors the transmission of disease among individuals more susceptible to viral infections after two years apart.

Although there are currently no drugs capable of curing measles, mass vaccination can effectively protect populations and greatly limit the circulation of the virus. Every year large-scale vaccination campaigns are carried out all over the world and guarantee the immunity of millions of children.

Vaccination campaigns compromised by the Covid crisis

The health crisis has compromised the smooth running of these vaccination campaigns. In 2021, 40 million children could not have benefited from the vaccine dose expected: 25 million of them did not receive the first dose and 14.7 million the second. According to WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the global vaccination coverage rate has not been this low since 2008. Some countries are hit hard by epidemics such as India, Indonesia or Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This decline in vaccination rates threatens the lives of many children. Ephrem Tekle Lemano, head of immunization programs at UNICEF, warns of the need to act as quickly as possible and remedy these vaccine deficiencies while there is still time. What puts into perspective the chicanery of the privileged who think they can do without these injections which nevertheless save millions of lives.

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