Health Agencies Warn of ‘Child Survival Crisis’ as Childhood Vaccination Rates Sink

A health worker marks a child's finger with ink after giving polio vaccine at a campaign in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on June 28, 2022. Javed Tanveer/AFP/Getty Images

Global health agencies have issued a “red alert” on children’s health as trends like rapidly rising rates of severe malnutrition and COVID-19 disruptions have combined to drive down childhood vaccination levels to their lowest in decades.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, the United Nations-affiliated children’s charity, jointly said on July 15 that the world has seen the biggest sustained drop in childhood vaccinations in around 30 years.