NPR

Why millions of kids aren't getting their routine vaccinations

COVID-19 disrupted health care across the globe. causing the biggest drop in childhood vaccination rates in decades. UNICEF's latest estimates find that nearly 50 million children entirely missed out.
A health worker administers a measles vaccine during a vaccination drive, prompted by a measles outbreak, in Navi Mumbai, India, in December 2022. A new UNICEF report finds that India has the world's largest number of children with zero doses of childhood vaccines: 2.7 million

A new report released by UNICEF finds that 67 million children across the world missed out on either some or all routine vaccinations between 2019 and 2021, and 48 million children didn't receive a single dose during this time period.

"We've seen the largest sustained decline in the number of children reached with their basic childhood immunizations," says Lily Caprani, chief of global advocacy at UNICEF.

"And the consequences of that will be measured in children's lives. It's the largest continuous decline in childhood vaccinations in 30 years."

But preliminary data from 2022 (not included in the report) suggests some encouraging

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