ANP
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NOS News•Friday, 03:53
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UNICEF and the World Health Organization are sounding the alarm about the major decline in childhood vaccinations. The organizations say that about 25 million children worldwide missed at least one of the DTP shots last year that protect against the life-threatening diseases diphtheria, tetanus, polio and whooping cough.
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That is two million more children who have not received vaccinations than in the corona year 2020 and even six million more than in 2019. UNICEF speaks of the “largest sustained decline in childhood vaccination in a generation”.
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The last time funding ratios were this low was around the turn of the century. “Impacts will be measured in lifetimes,” says Catherine Russelldirector of UNICEF.
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Particularly in poor countries, fewer children were vaccinated. India, Nigeria, Indonesia, Ethiopia and the Philippines top the list of countries with the fewest DTP shots.
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Coronapandemie
The culprit, according to the UN children’s organization, is the focus on corona vaccination programs in 2021 and the pressure on healthcare worldwide. All these factors allowed the situation to deteriorate further last year.
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