WHO aims to restore child immunisation to pre-pandemic level

TheWorld Health Organisation(WHO) is working with member nations, including India, to catch up the millions of children who missed out on Vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UN health body said its aim was to restore essential immunisation coverage to at least 2019 levels and strengthen primary healthcare to deliver immunisation.

The WHO initiative comes days after a report released by Unicef showed that routine immunisation was affected during the pandemic.

According to Unicefs State of the Worlds Children 2023 report, there were around 2. 7 million zerodose (unreached or missed out) under-5 children in India who did not receive a single dose of the necessary vaccines during 2021.

This number was 3 million in 2020 when the pandemic struck, severely impacting immunisation drives.