Vaccine progress for children stalling worldwide say experts

A combination of vaccine scepticism, cuts to international aid budgets and the pandemic has lead to a stall and even reversal of vaccination programmes for children, experts warn.

A new global study has revealed that progress in vaccinating children against various life-threatening diseases has stalled over the past two decades. It has even reversed in some countries.

Experts are urging for a greater effort to provide more accessibility to vaccines across the globe. Cuts to international aid budgets that fund vaccination programmes has had a knock-on effect, particularly in more economically-challenged areas.

A lack of funds and growing vaccine scepticism has created a ‘perfect storm,’ researchers say. Since 2010, progress for vaccine coverage has stagnated, and much wider variations in protection have emerged.

In a medical journal published in The Lancet, for example, research says that vaccinations for measles have declined in almost 100 countries. The pandemic worsened this trend as resource disruption became more prominent.

In 2023, almost 16 million children did not have any childhood vaccinations, with most being in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. These big gaps in protection make outbreaks of measles, polio and diphtheria more common.

Keep in mind that vaccination rates have fallen in more wealthy countries too, including parts of Europe and the US. There are concerns that this is a direct result of medical misinformation and a growing distrust in vaccines from the general public.

Dr David Elliman spoke to the BBC, and explained that many factors have contributed in tandem to the stalling of vaccine programmes.

‘Around the world, the increasing number of countries torn apart by civil unrest and wars, combined with the drastic cuts in foreign aid from rich nations, such as the US and UK, makes it difficult to get vaccines to many populations,’ he stated.

‘Where it appears that policy is being made on the basis of ill-informed opinion, rather than science, we have a perfect storm,’ Dr Elliman added.