UNICEF: Drop in Childhood Vaccinations Amid COVID Disruption

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Facts

  • According to the UN children agency's (UNICEF) annual State of the World's Children report, some 67M children globally either partially or completely missed routine vaccinations from 2019 to 2021 due to COVID lockdowns and the subsequent disruption of healthcare.1
  • UNICEF also said that, during that same period, the public perception of vaccines for children declined in 52 of the 55 countries surveyed. The organization called it a "worrying warning signal" of rising vaccine hesitancy that had come amid misinformation, dwindling trust in governments, and political polarization.2
  • Besides China, India, and Mexico, where vaccine approval remained steady or improved, the rest of the nations surveyed saw confidence in routine childhood vaccines, for diseases such as measles or diphtheria, decline by as much as 44%.3
  • As vaccination rates dropped by more than a third in South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Ghana, Senegal, and Japan, the report added that "people under 35 and women were more likely to report less confidence about vaccines for children after the start of the pandemic."4
  • Vaccine coverage for children declined in 112 countries and the percentage of children vaccinated worldwide slipped by 5% to 81%, the lowest since 2008, with Asia and Africa hit particularly hard by the decline.1
  • As 2019-2021 showed the largest decline in childhood immunizations in 30 years, researchers found that the children most impacted were those living in the poorest, most remote, and most marginalized communities.3

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2Reuters, 3The Hill, and 4VOA.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by UNICEF. Despite the historic development of COVID vaccines that have saved countless lives, pandemic lockdowns and the subsequent disinformation spread by conspiracy theorists have sent the world backwards. As doctors and scientists are achieving unprecedented amounts of vaccine success, it is important for government leaders and purveyors of public information to provide the most accurate and safe data so that vulnerable children are not harmed by those attempting to disrupt the medical industry's progress.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by New York Post. Vaccine hesitancy wasn't on the rise until the US — alongside its global sidekick institutions — began enforcing COVID vaccine mandates for those who clearly didn't need them. It was the government, not fringe conspiracy theorists, who lied about the efficacy of the vaccines, and now they're gaslighting the population into thinking this corrupt scheme never occurred. If the medical establishment wants people to trust it, it shouldn't censor leading scientists who happen to disagree with the Food and Drug Administration.

Predictions