Immunisation: 'Need to catch up on time lost with Covid', say experts

Even as the last three years of Covidpandemic has among many things severely affected routine immunisation of children health experts on Saturday urged the need to catch up on the time lostWorld Immunisation Week celebrated in the last week of April aims to highlight the collective action needed to protect people from vaccinepreventable diseasesAn estimated 67 million children missed their routine immunisation entirely or partially between 2019 and 2021 including 48 million not receiving any vaccine according to Unicefs State of the Worlds Children report released last weekFear of exposure disruption of healthcare services misinformation economic challenges and focus on controlling Covid19 led to a significant decline in vaccination rates for both adults and children Nameet Jerath Senior Consultant Paediatric Pulmonolgy and Critical Care Indraprastha Apollo Hospital told IANSBecause of the pandemic everybodys focus was only on Covid vaccinations and basic essential vaccinations like polio the basic primary and secondary vaccinations measles mumps rubella all these were neglected added Rahul Verma Director Neonatology amp General Paediatrics at Sir HN Reliance Foundation HospitalA WHO and Unicef 2022 report noted that due to the Covid pandemic the world has experienced the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in approximately 30 yearsIndia had 271 million children in 2021 who did not receive even a single dose of vaccine against DTP3 About more than 35 million accounting for 15 per cent of the worlds total missed the vaccine in India as per the reportWe have to catchup with vaccination and immunisation services on a high priority and all the vaccinations should be completed in a shorter time as compared to the routine schedule which is supposed to be given over the next three months Dr Verma told IANSVaccinating a child is crucial as it can safeguard them from lifethreatening ailments especially in infants who have vulnerable immune systems Educating people and dispelling myths about vaccines is crucial given the abundance of misinformation India has an extensive infrastructure to deliver vaccinations throughout the country Praveen Khilnani Chairman Pediatrics Pediatric Pulmonology and Pediatric Critical Care Medanta GurugramPoor vaccination during Covid pandemic was also reflected in the recent surges seen in the case of measles in the country At least 40 children died in 2022 due to measles and around 10000 kids were infectedMeanwhile India in 2022 launched an Intensified Mission Indradhanush IMI 40 aiming to cover more than 3 crore pregnant women and 26 crore children through the Universal Immunisation Programme UIP in 416 districts across 33 statesUTs in the countryThe latest UNICEF report showed that India along with China and Mexico is among the three countries with the highest vaccine confidence in the world with all other countries registering a declineIndia was able to halt the immunisation backslide of 2020 despite the severe Deltarelated disruptions in 2021 and the situation did not worsen the report statedBesides children the health experts also stressed the need for routine vaccination among adultsAlso Read Exercise more effective than medicines to manage mental healthImmunisation for adults include flu vaccines pneumococcal typhoid MMR and meningococcal vaccines which can prevent hospitalisation and death Newer vaccines include those against herpes zoster cervical cancer HPV Vaccine A vaccine for Malaria R21 is also in the pipelineAdult immunisation is often a neglected concept in India Not only patients but also health care providers are also not vigilant on this aspect Covid vaccination programme has taught us how timely immunisation can prevent hospitalisation and death Ajay Aggarwal Director and Head Internal Medicine Fortis Hospital Noida told IANSThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever