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15/11/2021

Monday, 15 November 2021, 09:40

22 million babies have missed the vaccine, and this disease is once again threatening the world

Corona plague has severely damaged routine immunization programs given to children around the world, with the result that health organizations are warning of massive outbreaks of one of the most contagious diseases known to man.

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Measles has become a global threat whose severity has increased over the past two years - this is because the corona plague that is raging around the world has led to about 22 million babies worldwide missing their turn to get vaccinated against it.

This figure, along with severe warnings of its consequences, was released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week.

The measles virus is one of the most contagious viruses in existence and even today it is responsible for the deaths of more than 60,000 people every year, most of them young children.

These are serious and sad numbers, but until very recently (2000) this figure was much higher and stood at about a million deaths a year.

What changed the situation and saved hundreds of thousands of lives each year was a worldwide and extensive vaccination campaign.

But the achievements in reducing hard-earned quarry mortality are easily eroded when the momentum of the vaccination campaign is hurt.

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To the full article

Although the number of measles cases reported during 2020 has decreased compared to the numbers of the years 2017-2019 during which there were severe outbreaks of the disease worldwide, the CDC does not encourage this figure because in their opinion it is a result of underreporting.

"Large and severe outbreaks of measles worldwide around 2020 indicate that cases of the virus have been underreported," the weekly morbidity and mortality report released by the institution said.

The measles vaccine saves 31 million people every year.

Toddler with a rash typical of measles on his back (Photo: ShutterStock)

One of the factors that bothers CDC experts the most is the fact that life disruptions that have occurred around the world due to the corona plague in the last two years have severely damaged the immunization program of many children and infants around the globe.

"More than 22 million infants and toddlers missed the first dose of their measles vaccine by 2020 - this is the most significant increase in this figure in the last twenty years," the CDC stated.

The quiet before the storm

"Although the reported measles cases have decreased during 2020, it is likely that what we are seeing now is the pre-storm calm - the risk of outbreaks of the disease is only rising around the world," said Dr. Kate O'Brien, director of the World Health Organization's Department of Vaccination and Vaccines. It is critical that states succeed in vaccinating their citizens against covid-19 as soon as possible, but this goal must not come at the expense of other important vaccination programs.

Routine immunization programs must be protected and even strengthened.

"Otherwise, we risk replacing one deadly epidemic with another," she warned.

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For some time now, the world's health organizations, led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the CDC, have been warning that tackling the global epidemic has severely damaged childhood immunization programs.

"An increase in the number of unvaccinated children, measles outbreaks, and measures to monitor and detect diseases that have been reversed in the fight against corona - all contribute to an increased risk of child mortality as well as serious complications due to measles," said Dr. Kevin Kane, Global Immunization Director at CDC. "We must act now to strengthen the means of monitoring the disease and close the gaps in vaccination, prior to the trade and the movement of flights between the countries sitting activity levels of pre-corona, thereby preventing deaths measles."

it is estimated that the CDC, vaccination programs against measles exist worldwide driven Every year the deaths of 31 million people.

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• Vaccine

• Vaccines

• measles

• Corona

• covid-19