People Lost Faith in Childhood Vaccines During COVID Pandemic, UNICEF Says

By Jennifer Rigby and Emma Farge

UNICEF's latest report indicated that public confidence in childhood vaccines declined from 2019 to 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 52 of 55 countries surveyed. The data is a "worrying warning signal" of the declining trust in governments and a rise in political polarization, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation, according to the report. UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell said, "We cannot allow confidence in routine immunizations to become another victim of the pandemic. Otherwise, the next wave of deaths could be of more children with measles, diphtheria or other preventable diseases." The findings follow COVID-related disruptions in immunizations, which caused the biggest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in a generation. During the pandemic, 67 million children did not receive one or more recommended vaccines, and efforts to catch up have stalled thus far.

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