In a recent statement released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), it was revealed that about 169 million children worldwide missed their first dose of the measles vaccine between 2010 and 2017, which means that about 21.1 million children miss out on this vaccine annually.
What’s even more alarming is that in the first three months of 2019 alone, more than 110,000 measles cases were reported worldwide. This shows a 300 per cent increase from measles cases in 2018. In 2017, about 110,000 people, most of whom were children, died from measles, a 22 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
Source: BBC News
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore added that the rising number of unvaccinated children could lead to a global outbreak of measles, causing thousands of unnecessary deaths. She was quoted as saying,
“The ground for the global measles outbreaks we are witnessing today was laid years ago. The measles virus will always find unvaccinated children.”
“If we are serious about averting the spread of this dangerous but preventable disease, we need to vaccinate every child, in rich and poor countries alike.”
Source: NSW Health
High-income countries like the United States (2.59 million), France (608,000), and the United Kingdom (527,000) top the list in the number of unvaccinated children in the developed world. Meanwhile, middle to low-income countries like Nigeria (4 million), India (2.9 million), Pakistan and Indonesia (1.2 million each), all show the highest number of children who missed out on their first measles dose.
In Malaysia, there were about 1,934 reported cases of measles in 2018. According to The Star, the Health Ministry stated that the number of measles cases without immunisation jumped from 125 to 1,467 cases between 2013 and 2018.
In a study by the Ministry of Health, it was also found that in 2016, about 50 per cent of measles cases in Malaysia were due to unvaccinated children. The main reasons for non-vaccination were vaccine refusal and preference for alternative medicine.
Source: Duluth News Tribune
The World Health Organisation (WHO) even listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 biggest threats to global health in 2019. An excerpt from their report on this reads,
“Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease – it currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved.”
What are your thoughts on these latest statistics? Let us know in the comments section!
Also read: MOH Wants to Make Vaccinations Compulsory for All Children
