20 million children miss out on life-saving vaccines, U.N. warns

LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - More than one in 10 children -
or 20 million worldwide - missed out last year on vaccines
against life-threatening diseases such as measles, diphtheria
and tetanus, the World Health Organization and the UNICEF
children's fund said on Monday.
In a report on global immunisation coverage, the U.N.
agencies found that vaccination levels are stagnating, notably
in poor countries or areas of conflict.
"Vaccines are one of our most important tools for preventing
outbreaks and keeping the world safe," the WHO's director
general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement.
"It's often those who are most at risk – the poorest, the
most marginalized, those touched by conflict or forced from
their homes - who are persistently missed," he said. "Far too
many are left behind."
The WHO/UNICEF report found that since 2010, vaccination
coverage with three doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis
(whooping cough) vaccine and one dose of measles vaccine has
stalled at around 86%.
The report said this was too low, since 95% coverage is
generally needed to provide "herd immunity" to those who are not
vaccinated.
In 2018 for example, the number of measles cases around the
world more than doubled, to almost 350,000.
"Measles is a real-time indicator of where we have more work
to do to fight preventable diseases," said Henrietta Fore,
UNICEF's executive director. "An outbreak points to communities
that are missing out on vaccines ... (and) we have to exhaust
every effort to immunize every child."
Almost half the world's unvaccinated children are in just 16
countries: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Mali,
Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and
Yemen.
If these children fall ill, the report said, they are at
risk of the most severe health consequences, and are least able
to get the treatment and care they need.