MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil bounces back from bottom tier regarding child vaccination

“Global immunization coverage has yet to recover from the historic setback it suffered during the pandemic,” O'Brien stressed

According to data from world health authorities released this week, Brazil is no longer among the 20 nations that vaccinate the least children, while Venezuela was included by Unicef and the World Health Organization (WHO) in the group lagging behind in terms of immunizations against measles, tetanus or diphtheria.

Since 2023, Brazil left the group of 20 nations with the most unvaccinated children while in neighboring Venezuela there were still millions of children who had not received this medication, it was reported.

The survey revealed that the number of kids who have not received any doses of DTP1 in Brazil fell from 710,000 in 2021 to 103,000 in 2023. As for DTP3, the drop between the same years was from 846,000 to 257,000. DTP is the vaccine that protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, Agencia Brasil explained.

Overall, starting in 2021, Brazil showed steady progress in 14 of the 16 immunizations surveyed. UNICEF’s head of health in Brazil, Luciana Phebo, highlighted that the country’s child immunization performance is a recovery after years of coverage on the wane. She underlined the importance of taking action, which includes offering vaccination outside healthcare facilities.

“It is essential to continue moving even faster to find and immunize every girl and boy who has not yet received the vaccines. Efforts must go beyond the walls of basic health units, and reach other spaces where children and families are, including schools, assistance centers, and other public spaces and facilities,” she said.

On the other hand, Venezuela fell prey to the global trend of vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis slowing down worldwide after the Covid-19 crisis. Hence, the percentage of children vaccinated against these maladies stagnated in 2023, having fallen below pre-pandemic levels, the UN agencies warned.

The percentage of children receiving at least one of the two required doses of measles immunizer last year reached 83%, the same as in 2022, when in 2019, the year before the pandemic, it was 86%, Unicef Immunization Director Ephrem Lemango explained. The number of children worldwide who did not receive a single dose of measles vaccine increased to 22.1 million, up from 19.3 million five years ago. On the brighter side, the percentage of fully vaccinated children last year reached 74% from 73% in 2022, and 71% in 2019.

“Three out of four children live in areas at high risk of measles outbreaks,” Lemango also warned. He also pointed out that some 300,000 cases were confirmed globally last year, almost three times as many as the previous year.

By the same token, the percentage of children who received the required three doses of DTP vaccine was 84% last year, the same as in 2022 but two points lower than in 2019. The survey also found that 89% received at least one or two doses of this vaccine, just like the previous but still behind the pre-pandemic rate of 90%.

Brazil’s progress contrasted with a global decline in the number of children who have not received any doses of DTP1—from 13.9 million in 2022 to 14.5 million in 2023. In 2019 this number was 12.8 million. In addition, the number of kids receiving three shots of DTP in 2023 stagnated at 84% (108 million). DTP is considered a key indicator for global immunization coverage. Altogether, the survey provides data from 185 countries.

“Global immunization coverage has yet to recover from the historic setback it suffered during the pandemic,” WHO's director of immunization programs, Katherine O'Brien stressed. In this scenario, the WHO, UNICEF and the GAVI Vaccine Alliance have launched the “Great Catch-Up” strategy to regain pre-2020 figures. According to Lemango, this has been achieved in 25 of the 35 countries where this strategy has been implemented.