COVID-19 fuels slowest rate of childhood vaccination in three decades, leaving millions at risk

Following the release of a UN study that shows at least 40 million children have missed out on early childhood education due to measures to combat COVID-19, the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore, warned that “the pandemic is making a global childcare crisis even worse.” 

Although more children than ever before are being vaccinated against measles across Europe, overall infection rates are the highest in a decade, and a three-fold increase on last year, according to new data published on Thursday by the World Health Organization (WHO).

As countries around the world continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 117 million children risk missing out on measles vaccines, two UN agencies warned in Geneva on Tuesday.