After decades of progress, children’s vaccination rates have begun to stagnate or fall around the world in recent years, and Canada is not immune to the trend, suggests a New study From the lancet.
The study estimated the coverage of 11 children’s vaccines in 204 countries and territories between 1980 and 2023, analyzing more than 1,000 data sources from around the world.
He found that, although worldwide, great advances were made in the coverage of vaccines for children during that period (vaccine coverage against diseases such as measles, polyomyelitis and the further-year-old Polyomyelitis and cough, progress began to stagnate, even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Particularly in the countries of the Americas and high income, between 2010 and 2019, the coverage of the measles vaccine decreased by approximately half of the countries,” said Dr. Jonathan Mosser, an assistant professor of metric health sciences at the Institute of Metric and Health Evaluation of the University of Washington and one of the co -authors of the study.
The pandemia gave a strong blow to vaccination rates, with more than 15 million children missing routine shots between 2020 and 2023, Mosser said.
The world never completely recovered at pre-pandemic child vaccination levels, he said.
“Pandemia reversed decades of progress we had to reduce the number of children in zero doses, those children who have never received one of these key children’s vaccines.”
That worsens vaccines inequalities
The pandemic had a huge impact on the regions that already had low vaccine coverage before Covid-19, Mosser said.
Sub -Saharan Africa countries saw the greatest interruption of vaccine coverage: it is estimated that five to seven million children in the region had lost vaccines that protect them against diseases such as polio, pneumococcal disease and rotavirus.
“We have challenges related to global inequalities and vaccination coverage really long data with many low and medium income countries that have significantly lower coverage than high -income countries,” Mosser said.
Why vaccination rates have begun to stagnate vary from one country to another, he added.
A new study published in the Lancet Medical Journal suggests that children’s vaccines have stagnated or decreased since 2010. Authors say that geopolitical instability is feeding the fall in some countries, but erroneous information is largely promoting the decrease in high -income countries.
“In some parts of the world, they are related to geopolitical instability, they are related to the problems of the supply chain. In many high -income countries, they are related to the information and hesitation of vaccines,” he said.
Convince those who will not be vaccinated
In Canada, said Mosser, the vaccine coverage for most shots has fallen compared to the early 2000s. The absorption of some vaccines has fallen over time, such as the shooting that protects against diphtheria, tetanus and whore cough. Recently there have been some increases in the absorption of other jabs, such as the first dose of the measles vaccine, papers and rubella (MMR), but the modest increase is not enough to avoid shoots.
For example, Mosser said, measles vaccination rates in 2023 – 92 percent for a dose of the MMR and 79 percent for two doses of the MMR) are well below the necessary threshold for the immunity of the flock, which is 95 percent.
In high -income countries such as Canada, misinformation and vaccine vaccine have seriously undermined vaccines and have contributed to lower vaccination coverage, Mosser said.
Another contributing factor could be the disparities in coverage, throughout divisions such as socio -economic status, location, race or religion, he added.
“New strategies are needed to encourage people to listen to reliable and reliable voices, including their medical care providers, on vaccination.”
Ontario currently has more measles cases than in all the US, and infections are rising in Alberta and Manitoba. Jennifer Yoon of CBC breaks down what is behind the resurgence of a eliminated disease decades ago, and why the frontline say that it will really be difficult to control this outbreak.
In a statement, the Canada Public Health Agency said it is investigating the various already complex reasons that drive the vaccine vaccine throughout Canada. The agency says it is also developing evidence -based campaigns and resources to support medical care providers who meet vaccine vaccine.
‘A traveling world’
As public health authorities try to convince those in Canada who will not be vaccinated, it is also important to support and finance vaccination campaigns worldwide, experts in Canada say.
“The world is a traveling world,” said Dr. Mahli toast, pediatrician from the Jim Pattison Children’s hospital in Saskatoon.
“If we do not have a good vaccine coverage in sub -Saharan Africa, that also touches Canada,” said Brindamour, who also practices in Reach Clinic, a multidisciplinary refugee clinic.
She says she has seen patients, often of regions that face conflicts, where it is difficult to access vaccines. But they are almost always eager to get the opportunity, if it is needed and offered.
“We do not see much vaccine vaccine,” he said in reference to refugee populations.
Dr. Gabriel Fabreau, a general specialist of internal medicine in Calgary, who also works with newly arrived populations, has also observed that his patients do not hesitate to obtain children’s vaccines.
He says that Canada should make it easier for these populations to catch up with children’s vaccines that have been lost.
“Health systems work better if we make routine and easy things that we know are important,” he said.
Increasing vaccination programs prior to departure, facilitating the exchange of medical records and vaccines across borders and offering vaccines upon arrival are easy ways to address this complex problem, he added.
