South Asia could face yet one more health emergency if children across the region don’t receive their life-saving vaccine shots, UNICEF warned.
Nearly one fourth of the world’s unimmunized or partially immunized children — around 4.5 million children are living in South Asia. The majority of them, or 97 per cent, are living in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. With lockdowns in situ as a part of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) response, routine immunizations are severely disrupted, and parents are increasingly reluctant to take their children to health centers for routine jabs. Sporadic outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles and diphtheria, have already been seen in parts of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.
The South Asia region is additionally home to 2 of the last polio endemic countries within the world, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“Vaccine stocks are running dangerously low in some countries of the region as supply chains have been disrupted with travel bans and cancelled flights. The manufacturing of the vaccines has also been disrupted, creating additional shortages,” says Paul Rutter, Regional Health Advisor for UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia.
Many of the health facilities throughout the region, where many children are normally vaccinated, are closed, and outreach sessions are cancelled, adding to the challenge.
“As long as frontline health workers take the appropriate precautions, particularly washing their hands, there is no reason not to vaccinate – in fact, it is crucial that vaccination continues,” says Paul Rutter.
Across the region, national mass vaccination campaigns are deferred. Bangladesh and Nepal have deferred their national measles and rubella campaigns while Pakistan and Afghanistan have cancelled their polio campaigns.
In Bangladesh, the postponed measles and rubella campaign targets 34 million children aged from 9 months to 9 years.
The Directorate General of Health Services in Bangladesh has issued guidelines to resume routine immunization during COVID-19 pandemic in line with UNICEF and WHO global and regional advisories. The routine immunization sessions are continuing both in fixed and outreach sites as an important service that combats disease outbreaks. However, the amount of immunization sessions performed has been substantially reduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emphasizing the necessity of building confidence among health workers and parents, Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF Country Representative in Bangladesh, said:
“We need to support and empower the health workers to protect themselves with frequent handwashing and other personal protection precautions so that they can continue their work. It is equally important to build trust in communities so that parents understand that with proper protective measures we can immunize their children safely.”
UNICEF strongly recommends that, where immunization campaigns are suspended, governments begin rigorous planning now to intensify immunization activities once the COVID-19 pandemic is under control.
“We are very concerned about the impact of not getting children vaccinated,” says Jean Gough, Director of UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia. “Many of these children are already vulnerable. While the COVID-19 virus does not appear to make many children seriously ill, the health of hundreds of thousands of children could be impacted by this disruption of regular immunization services. This is a very serious threat. Early action is key.”
