PAHO calls for improvement in routine vaccinations

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) member countries are being urged to take steps to improve the falling coverage rate of other routinely administered vaccines, even as efforts are ongoing to immunise their populations against the coronavirus (COVID-19).

PAHO's Assistant Director, Dr Jarbas Barbosa da Silva Jr, says vaccine coverage for polio, measles and rubella, diphtheria, and other childhood diseases has been falling, even before COVID-19 struck, noting that the pandemic's heavy impact has “only made this worse”.

“Our health systems have been concentrating on the pandemic response, but they also need to maintain their focus on routine immunisation, which prevents other serious diseases and saves lives,” Barbosa emphasised.

He was speaking during PAHO's weekly COVID-19 digital media briefing.

Barbosa said consequent to the falloff in routine immunisation for other diseases during the two years since the pandemic's onset, “we've rolled back nearly three decades of progress on [eliminating] polio and measles, putting us back to the same vaccination levels we had in 1994”.

Additionally, the assistant director said once-pervasive diseases such as diphtheria and yellow fever “threaten to resurge, unless we act quickly”.

Barbosa said while there are no “active” polio cases in the region of the Americas, reports of such in countries like Israel and Malawi serve as a “dire warning for the threat we could face if we don't bring coverage levels back up soon”.

He also pointed out that the administration of the HPV vaccination, which prevents cervical cancer in young women and girls, has also stalled across the region due to school disruptions.

“COVID-19 showed us, once again, that vaccines are the most important tool to control infectious diseases and save lives. We need strong political and technical leadership at national and local levels to raise vaccination coverage against each disease, building on the rapid rollout of COVID vaccines,” he underscored.

Noting that sustained investment and commitment at the highest levels has aided in immunising millions of citizens across the region against COVID-19, Barbosa said these inputs “are also key to protect our children, family, and friends from vaccine-preventable diseases”.

He advised that many countries have already commenced work to make up for lost progress in this area, including restarting campaigns against measles, rubella and polio in 2021.

Barbosa indicated that at least eight countries are already planning to do follow-up measles campaigns this year, with the aim of protecting more than 67 million children against the virus.

“As we have done for the past 20 years, we will work with countries across the region to run coordinated national campaigns during Vaccination Week in the Americas [in April] to catch up all persons – children, adolescents, and adults – on their missed vaccines. This is a reminder for countries to continue strengthening their national immunisation efforts,” he further stated.

Barbosa assured that PAHO's Revolving Fund will continue to support countries with purchases of routine vaccines as it has been doing to secure deliveries of COVID vaccines.

- JIS News

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