{"id":8315,"date":"2023-04-26T12:55:23","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T04:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=8315"},"modified":"2023-04-26T12:55:24","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T04:55:24","slug":"new-data-indicates-declining-confidence-in-childhood-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/new-data-indicates-declining-confidence-in-childhood-vaccines\/","title":{"rendered":"New data indicates declining confidence in childhood vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The public perception of the importance of vaccines for children declined during the COVID-19 pandemic in 52 out of 55 countries studied, UNICEF warned today in a new report on immunization, the State of the World\u2019s Children 2023: For Every Child, Vaccination. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to t<\/em>he Vaccine\nConfidence Project and published today by UNICEF, <\/em>the perception of the importance of vaccines for children\ndeclined by about 25 per cent in the Philippines and by more than a\nthird in the Republic of Korea, Papua New Guinea, Ghana, Senegal, and Japan after\nthe start of the pandemic. China, India, and Mexico were the only countries studied\nwhere the data indicates the perception of the importance of vaccines held firm\nor even improved. In most countries, people under 35 and women were more likely\nto report less confidence about vaccines for children after the start of the\npandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s global report warns a total of 67 million\nchildren missing out on<\/a> vaccinations between 2019\nand 2021, with vaccination coverage levels decreasing in 112 countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 67 million children globally, who missed out on<\/a> routine vaccination between 2019 and\n2022, 48 million did not receive a single routine vaccine, also known as\n\u201czero-dose.\u201d The Philippines has one million zero dose children, the second highest\nin East Asia and the Pacific Region, and the fifth highest globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vaccine confidence is\nvolatile and time specific. Additional data collection and further analysis\nwill be required to determine if the findings are indicative of a longer-term\ntrend. Despite the falls, overall support for vaccines remains relatively strong<\/a>. In almost half the 55 countries\nstudied more than 80 per cent of respondents perceived vaccines as important\nfor children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the report\nwarns the confluence of several factors suggest the threat of vaccine hesitancy\nmay be growing. These factors include uncertainty about the response to the\npandemic, growing access to misleading information, declining trust in expertise,\nand political polarisation. In\nthe Philippines, vaccine hesitancy can be attributed to cultural factors, and\nconcerns on vaccine safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the height of the\nCOVID-19 pandemic, scientists rapidly developed COVID-19 vaccines that saved\ncountless lives. But despite this historic achievement, fear, and\ndisinformation about all types of vaccines circulated as widely as the virus\nitself,\u201d said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director. \u201cThis data is a\nworrying warning signal. We cannot allow confidence in routine immunizations to\nbecome another victim of the pandemic. Otherwise, the next wave of deaths could\nbe of more children with measles, diphtheria, or other preventable diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alarmingly, the\ndecline in confidence comes amid the largest sustained\nbackslide in childhood immunisation in 30 years<\/a>, fuelled\nby the COVID-19 pandemic. The\npandemic interrupted childhood vaccination almost\neverywhere<\/a>, especially due to intense demands on health systems, the\ndiversion of immunization resources to COVID-19 vaccination, health worker\nshortages and stay-at-home measures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children\nborn just before or during the pandemic are now moving past the age when they\nwould normally be vaccinated, underscoring the need for urgent action to catch\nup on those who were missed and prevent deadly disease outbreaks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic also\nexacerbated existing inequities. For far too many children, especially in the\nmost marginalised communities, vaccination is still not available, accessible, or\naffordable. Even before the\npandemic, progress on vaccination had stalled for almost\na<\/a> decade as the world struggled to reach the most marginalised children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The children who are\nmissing out live in the poorest, most remote, and marginalized communities, at\ntimes impacted by conflict. New data produced for the report by the International\nCenter for Equity in Health found that in the poorest households, 1 in 5\nchildren are zero-dose while in the wealthiest, it is just 1 in 20. It found unvaccinated\nchildren often live in hard-to-reach communities such as rural areas or urban slums.\nThey often have mothers who have not been able to go to school and who are\ngiven little say in family decisions. These challenges are greatest in low- and\nmiddle-income countries, where about 1 in 10 children in urban areas are zero\ndose and 1 in 6 in rural areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nupper-middle-income countries, there is almost no gap between urban and rural\nchildren. To vaccinate every child, it is vital to strengthen primary health\ncare and provide its mostly female front-line workers with the resources and\nsupport they need. The report finds women are at the front line of delivering\nvaccinations, but they face low pay, informal employment, lack of formal\ntraining and career opportunities and threats to their security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address this child\nsurvival crisis, UNICEF is calling on governments to double-down on their\ncommitment to increase financing for immunization and to work with stakeholders\nto unlock available resources, including leftover COVID-19 funds, to urgently\nimplement and accelerate catch-up vaccination efforts to protect children and\nprevent disease outbreaks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report is urging\ngovernments to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n