The World Health Organization have announced that the rate of expansion of measles in the world is growing at an alarming rate.
According to a joint publication by the WHO and the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2021, nearly 40 million children missed a measles vaccine dose, 25 million children missed their first dose of the measles vaccine and an additional 14.7 million children missed their second dose.
WHO has tagged this decline as a significant setback in global progress toward achieving and maintaining measles elimination, leaving millions of children susceptible to infection.
In 2021, the WHO argues, there were an estimated 9 million cases and 128,000 deaths from measles worldwide. At least 22 countries experienced large and disruptive outbreaks.
Declines in vaccine coverage weakened measles surveillance and continued interruptions and delays in immunisation activities due to COVID-19, as well as persistent large outbreaks in 2022, mean that measles is an imminent threat in every region of the world.
According to WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “The paradox of the pandemic is that while vaccines against COVID-19 were developed in record time and deployed in the largest vaccination campaign in history, routine immunisation programmes were badly disrupted, and millions of kids missed out on life-saving vaccinations against deadly diseases like measles.
“Getting immunization programmes back on track is absolutely critical. Behind every statistic in this report is a child at risk of a preventable disease.”
The situation is grave: measles is one of the most contagious human viruses but is almost entirely preventable through vaccination.
Coverage of 95 percent or greater of 2 doses of measles-containing vaccine is needed to create herd immunity in order to protect communities and achieve and maintain measles elimination.
The world is well under that, with only 81 percent of children receiving their first measles-containing vaccine dose, and only 71 percent of children receiving their second measles-containing vaccine dose. These are the lowest global coverage rates of the first dose of measles vaccination since 2008, although the coverage varies by country.
The WHO notes that urgent global action is needed now that measles is a threat everywhere, as the virus can quickly spread to multiple communities and across international borders.
