At least 80 million children under one at risk of diseases such as diphtheria, measles and polio as Coronavirus disrupts routine vaccination efforts, warn Gavi, WHO and UNICEF

Spokespeople available for interview: Email [email protected]

 22 May 2020 – Coronavirus is disrupting life-saving immunization services around the world, putting millions of children – in rich and poor countries alike – at risk of diseases like diphtheria, measles and polio. This stark warning comes from the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance ahead of the Global Vaccine Summit on 4 June, at which world leaders will come together to help maintain immunization programmes and mitigate the impact of the pandemic in lower-income countries.

According to data collected by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Gavi and the Sabin Vaccine Institute, provision of routine immunization services is substantially hindered in at least 68 countries and is likely to affect approximately 80 million children under the age of 1 living in these countries.

ROUTINE IMMUNIZATION OF CHILDREN DISRUPTED
Since March 2020, routine childhood immunization services have been disrupted on a global scale that may be unprecedented since the inception of expanded programs on immunization (EPI) in the 1970s. More than half (53%) of the 129 countries where data was available reported moderate-to-severe disruptions, or a total suspension of vaccination services during March-April 2020.

“Immunization is one of the most powerful and fundamental disease prevention tools in the history of public health,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Disruption to immunization programmes from the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to unwind decades of progress against vaccine-preventable diseases like measles.”

“At the 4 June Global Vaccine Summit in London, donors will pledge their support to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to sustain and accelerate this lifesaving work in some of the most vulnerable countries. From the bottom of my heart, I urge donors to fully fund the Alliance. These countries, these children especially, need vaccines, and they need Gavi.”

The reasons for disrupted services vary. Some parents are reluctant to leave home because of restrictions on movement, lack of information or because they fear Coronavirus infection. And many health workers are unavailable because of restrictions on travel, or redeployment to the Coronavirus response, as well as a lack of protective equipment.

Millions of children missing out on routine vaccines is alarming and risks further outbreaks of life-threatening diseases like measles,” said Unicef UK’s Director of Advocacy, Joanna Rea.

“Unicef UK fully supports the UK government’s ambition to host a successful vaccine summit and GAVI replenishment in June. It’s imperative that the UK Government continues its leadership using this summit as a stepping stone towards the global coordination of a long term Coronavirus response plan that ensures children and their health are protected both now and in the future.”

Transport delays of vaccines are exacerbating the situation. UNICEF has reported a substantial delay in planned vaccine deliveries due to the lockdown measures and the ensuing decline in commercial flights and limited availability of charters. To help mitigate this, UNICEF is appealing to governments, the private sector, the airline industry, and others, to free up freight space at an affordable cost for these life-saving vaccines. Gavi recently signed an agreement with UNICEF to provide advance funding to cover increased freight costs for delivery of vaccines, in light of the reduced number of commercial flights available for transport.

“More children in more countries are now protected against more vaccine-preventable diseases than at any point in history,” said Dr. Seth Berkley, Gavi CEO. “Due to COVID-19 this immense progress is now under threat, risking the resurgence of diseases like measles and polio. Not only will maintaining immunization programmes prevent more outbreaks, it will also ensure we have the infrastructure we need to roll out an eventual COVID-19 vaccine on a global scale.”

Next week, WHO will issue new advice to countries on maintaining essential services during the pandemic, including recommendations on how to provide immunizations safely.

“We cannot let our fight against one disease come at the expense of long-term progress in our fight against other diseases,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “We have effective vaccines against measles, polio and cholera. While circumstances may require us to temporarily pause some immunization efforts, these immunizations must restart as soon as possible, or we risk exchanging one deadly outbreak for another.”

MASS IMMUNIZATION CAMPAIGNS TEMPORARILY DISRUPTED

Many countries have temporarily and justifiably suspended preventive mass vaccination campaigns against diseases like cholera, measles, meningitis, polio, tetanus, typhoid and yellow fever, due to risk of transmission and the need to maintain physical distancing during the early stages of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Measles and polio vaccination campaigns, in particular, have been badly hit, with measles campaigns suspended in 27 countries and polio campaigns put on hold in 38 countries. At least 24 million people in 21 Gavi-supported lower-income countries are at risk of missing out on vaccines against polio, measles, typhoid, yellow fever, cholera, rotavirus, HPV, meningitis A and rubella due to postponed campaigns and introductions of new vaccines.

In late March, concerned that mass gatherings for vaccination campaigns would enflame transmission of Coronavirus, WHO recommended countries to temporarily suspend preventive campaigns while assessments of risk, and effective measures for reducing Coronavirus transmission were established.

WHO has since monitored the situation and has now issued advice to help countries determine how and when to resume mass vaccination campaigns. The guidance notes that countries will need to make specific risk assessments based on the local dynamics of Coronavirus transmission, the health system capacities, and the public health benefit of conducting preventive and outbreak response vaccination campaigns.

Based on this guidance, and following growing concerns about increasing transmission of polio, the  Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), is advising countries to start planning for the safe resumption of polio vaccination campaigns, especially in polio high-risk countries.

Despite the challenges, several countries are making special efforts to continue immunization. Uganda is ensuring that immunization services continue along with other essential health services, even funding transportation to ensure outreach activities. And in Lao PDR, despite a national lockdown imposed in March, routine immunization in fixed sites continued with physical distancing measures in place.

UNICEF will continue to support countries to vaccinate all children and considers immunization as a core health service that should be prioritized when possible and in a way that limits the risk of Coronavirus transmission.

The organisation is working hard to ensure adequate vaccine supplies are available in countries that need them and are in close communication with global vaccine suppliers to ensure production is not disrupted under these difficult circumstances.

Unicef UK’s Save Generation Covid appeal is supporting our response to children and families impacted by Coronavirus across the world. Visit unicef.uk/donate-generationcovid to donate and help #GenerationCovid.

ENDS

 Notes to editors

Download photos and broll from UNICEF  and WHO. New polio guidance available here.

About the Analysis

Vaccination campaigns	Total # of  countries with postponed campaigns as of 15 May*
Measles/ Measles Rubella/ Measles Mumps Rubella (M/MR/MMR)	27
Polio (IPV)	7
Bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (bOPV)	26
Monovalent Oral Poliovirus Type 2 (mOPV2)	13
Meningitis A (MenA)	2
Yellow Fever (YF)	4
Typhoid (TCV)	2
Cholera (OCV)	5
Tetanus (Td)	7

The online immunization pulse survey was conducted with over 800 immunization experts, including representatives of Ministries of Health and global health organizations across 107 countries. 53 of these were lower-income countries supported by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The data on campaigns is based on data reported to WHO by member states as of 15 May 2020. Data on reasons for the disrupted services also came from regions and a survey on the training platform Scholar with 1600 respondents.

On 4 June the UK government will host the Global Vaccine Summit, which will aim to raise at least US$ 7.4 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to protect 300 million children in 68 lower-income countries against deadly diseases from 2021-25. This funding will help support the mass vaccination campaigns and rebuilding of health systems needed over the coming years to help address the damage done by the Coronavirus pandemic.

 For more information, please contact:

Alexandra Murdoch, 0207 375 6179, [email protected]

Unicef UK Media Team, 0207 375 6030, [email protected]

 About Unicef

Unicef is the world’s leading organisation for children, promoting the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.

Unicef UK raises funds to protect children in danger, transform their lives and build a safer world for tomorrow’s children. As a registered charity we raise funds through donations from individuals, organisations and companies and we lobby and campaign to keep children safe. Unicef UK also runs programmes in schools, hospitals and with local authorities in the UK.

For more information please visit unicef.org.uk

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The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, WHO works with 194 Member States, across six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2023 is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and wellbeing.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is a public-private partnership led by national governments with six partners – the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the vaccine alliance. Its goal is to eradicate polio worldwide.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 760 million children – and prevented more than 13 million deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 developing countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines

The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organizations that fund Gavi’s work here.