India among eight countries with half of world's unvaccinated children as of 2023: Study
NEW DELHI: India was among the eight countries where more than half the unvaccinated children from around the world lived as of 2023, an analysis published in The Lancet journal showed, "emphasising persistent inequities."
Providing global estimates of current vaccine coverage, the study found that the same year, there were 15.7 million children -- 1.44 million in India -- who had received no doses of the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine in their first year.
An international team of researchers forming the 'Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 Vaccine Coverage Collaborators' updated global, regional, and national estimates of routine childhood vaccine coverage from 1980 to 2023 for 204 countries and territories.
In 1980, 53.5 per cent of children who had never received a routine childhood vaccine, or 'zero-dose' children, lived in just five countries -- India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh --, they said.
Routine childhood vaccinations are among the most powerful and cost-effective public health interventions available, said senior author Dr Jonathan Mosser from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington, US, which co-ordinates the GBD study.
"Despite the monumental efforts of the past 50 years, progress has been far from universal. Large numbers of children remain under- and un-vaccinated," Dr Mosser said.
Persistent global inequalities, challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and growth of vaccine misinformation and hesitancy have all contributed to faltering immunisation progress.
The trends increase the risk of outbreaks that can be prevented through vaccinations, including measles, polio, and diphtheria, the senior author added.
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