One in four children Latin America and the Caribbean They don’t have the full set of vaccination which makes them vulnerable to dangerous diseases, in a region where with an “alarming” decrease in vaccinated minors, warned the Unicef this Monday.
“In just five years, the complete vaccination schedule for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis in Latin America and the Caribbean has dropped from 90% in 2015 to 76% in 2020,” Unicef said in a statement.
This means, according to United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), that “one in four boys and girls” in Latin America has not received the complete routine vaccination schedule that would protect them from “multiple diseases”.
“The decline in vaccination rates in the region is alarming,” he warned in the statement. Jean GoughUNICEF regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Panama.
The situation “leaves millions of children and adolescents exposed to serious illness, or even death, when it could be avoided,” he added.
According to Unicef, the fall in coverage by 14 percentage points in the last five years affects almost 2.5 million children, who have not received the 3 doses of the vaccine against diphtheriathe tetanus and the whooping cough.
Of them, 1.5 million have not even received the first dose of that vaccine.
The decrease in vaccination coverage had already started before the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, due to coronavirus The situation was aggravated by the suspension of many basic health services and the fear of getting infected by going to a medical center, he assured Unicef.