India is one of the many South Asian countries that experienced more than 1.44 million children classified as “zero-khurak” in 2023 as “zero-khurak” in 2023.

While regular childhood vaccination has saved millions of lives since 1980, global progress has slowed down in recent years, especially due to Kovid -19 epidemic.

Many children, especially in Africa and South Asia, are still missing from life -saving vaccines.

The study is based on the global burden of 2023 data and looks at vaccine coverage in 204 countries between 1980 and 2023. It focuses on 11 major vaccines recommended for all children, which protect from diphtheria, measles, polio, tuberculosis, pneumonia and rotivires.

Since the launch of the World Health Organization (WHO) program on vaccination in 1974, childhood vaccination efforts have prevented the death of about 154 million children globally.

However, in the last decade, the progress has slowed down. Vaccine coverage in many countries declined or even declined, especially during the Kovid -19 years.

Rise of zero children

In particular, the study throws light on the increase in “zero-khurak children”-people who also did not receive the first dose of the original DTP vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertusis).

Between 1980 and 2019, the number of zero-khurak children declined by nearly 75%, but it again rose during the epidemic, 18.6 million in 2021.

In 2023, more than half of the world’s 15.7 million unwanted children were living in only eight countries, mainly in sub-Sahara Africa (53%) and South Asia (13%)-Nigeria (2.48 million), India (1.44 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, 882,000) (782,000) (538,000).

There are about 1.44 million of these children in India, which is the second largest after Nigeria. South Asia alone is a home of about 13% of these untricted children, showing that the problem in this part of the world is particularly serious.

Kovid -19 slow recovery

The Covid-19 had a major impact on regular vaccination of the epidemic. Coverage for essential vaccines such as DTP, measles (MCV1), and polio fell rapidly in 2020 and still did not return to pre-political levels. Even high -income countries saw a decline.

Some new vaccines, such as measles (MCV2), pneumococcal vaccine (PCV3), and second dosage of rotavirus vaccine, continued to expand during epidemic, but slowly than expected.

The 2030 forecast suggests that only DTP3 (full course of DTP vaccine) can meet the WHO’s target of 90% coverage, and is also only in the best-case scenario.

Ahead

The study asks for immediate action to meet the goals of vaccination agenda 2030 (IA2030).

These include reducing the number of void children and reaching 90% vaccine coverage for major vaccines.

This can be done if the country:

• Strengthen primary health care systems, especially in undersned areas
• Addressed vaccine hesitant and misinformation
• Target support for conflict-affected and resource-poor areas
• Focus on local needs and sub -sectors
• Continue global recovery efforts like WHO “Big Catch-up” campaign

The authors of the study have warned that without these concentrated efforts, global vaccination goals cannot be achieved.

Millions of children can remain in danger of vaccine-pre-diseases.