India still hangs back in the routine immunisation programme: WHO-UNICEF report

• Sixty percent of the children across 10 countries, including India, have not been given the basic vaccination coverage.
  
• WHO asked the Southeast Asia region to accelerate its efforts to reach the unvaccinated children.
  
• It also commended India’s efforts for its vaccination drive called Mission Indradhanush.
  

According to the recent WHO-UNICEF report on immunisation released this week, India still lags behind in the routine immunisation programme. As per the figures released, an estimated 20 million additional children globally, still have not been vaccinated with diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis or DTP3, which is considered to be the basic vaccination coverage. Sixty percent of these 20 million kids are in 10 countries which includes India.

The Southeast Asian region registers about 37 million births annually and about 88% of these newborns get the basic vaccination coverage of three doses of DTP, annually.

Of all the infants who do not even have the DTP-3 vaccination, almost eight million (40 per cent) live in fragile or humanitarian settings, including countries affected by conflict. For universal immunisation coverage, more collaborative efforts are needed to break down socio-cultural barriers and penetrate remote areas. Their progress needs to be closely monitored, according to WHO.

The main aim remains for all countries to provide equitable access to high-quality, safe, efficacious, affordable vaccines and immunisation programmes.

Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) which is the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract, and can cause cervical cancer and genital warts, was introduced in 80 countries. While these are relatively recent, the vaccines to prevent major killers of children like rotavirus and pneumonia have been around for more than a decade. In 2017, the global coverage of these diseases was still noted just as 28% and 44% respectively. If put to correct use, these vaccinations have the potential to reach the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing deaths of children under five years of age.

The global vaccination coverage, that is the proportion of the world’s children who receive recommended vaccines, has remained constant over the past few years. Since 2015, the reach of DTP-3 vaccination has been stagnant at 85%, which accounts for about 116.2 million infants, globally.

However, it is important to note that there has also been some progress in the arena of universal vaccination. In 2017, 4.6 million more infants have been vaccinated globally against figures in 2010 because of population growth.

Newly available vaccines are furthermore being added to the life-saving vaccination package that includes vaccines against diseases like Ebola, malaria and meningitis.

On Tuesday, WHO had asked the Southeast Asia region, including India, to accelerate its efforts to reach nearly five million unvaccinated children. It, nevertheless, commended the efforts of some of the countries for their vaccination drives including India’s Mission Indradhanush which aims to reach about 190 districts.

Despite all numerical stagnations as far as vaccinations are concerned, the region continues to be polio-free and maintains its maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination status.