Vaccination failures

The Covid-19 crisis, which has hit South Asia as well as other parts of the world, has not claimed the lives of many small children. But in South Asia, there is a risk that the suspension of campaigns to deliver other vaccines against preventable diseases to which children under five most often fall victim, could do so due to lockdowns, travel restrictions and consequent shortages of supplies as well as the reluctance of parents to travel to clinics or access doctors. Thousands of children in South Asia have missed out on routine vaccinations. As a result, small but potentially dangerous outbreaks of measles and diphtheria are already being reported in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.

Unicef warns that governments need to take action to ensure that children who have been left out from routine vaccination during the Covid-19 crisis do not miss out permanently. Indeed, the UN agency points out that even before the coronavirus pandemic hit the region, 4.5 million South Asian children had missed out on routine immunisations. Unicef advises that there is no risk to children receiving the necessary vaccines, including the one against polio, provided health workers exercise good hygiene and are careful to avoid any gatherings of crowds at clinics. For Pakistan, continuing with its polio campaign is especially important given that 147 cases of the potentially fatal virus had been reported last year. This compares to only 12 cases in 2018 and fewer than that in previous years.

The disruptions in vaccine campaigns caused by Covid-19 poses the risk that still more children could become infected this year, both by polio and by other illnesses. Health strategies have to be thought out systematically and carefully. Naturally, there can be no desire to put children at any risk. However, for small children, the dangers posed by polio or measles may be greater than those presented by Covid-19. Therefore, carefully planned schemes are required to ensure there is not too great a lag in immunizing children. It is almost certain that there will be gaps this year and perhaps for longer than that. In the current situation where global cargo and local travel is severely limited, it can be extremely difficult to deliver vaccines to children, notably those in rural and remote areas. These children are often among those left out most often even in ordinary circumstances. This however is not an ordinary circumstance. The coronavirus should not allow us to forget that other diseases exist too and unless measures are taken, these can take the lives of children in large numbers without the vaccines they require.