Don’t neglect vaccinations when fighting coronavirus

Over the past three months, the focus of governments, international organizations, charities and the media has been almost entirely on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. As the virus began impacting many more countries besides China, where it originated, most governments announced lockdowns, with varying degrees of urgency and severity.

This response was, of course, very necessary in view of the speed and the extent to which COVID-19 has spread across the world in just a few months, infecting more than 2 million people and killing more than 130,000. The pandemic is still in its growth phase and the number of cases is growing with each passing day. Even so, it is already testing the limits of the health care systems in most countries, including in the world’s most advanced economies. Hospitals have struggled to keep up with not just the number of patients admitted, but also the essential defensive items for medical personnel, such as protective gear and masks, and of course medicines to fight the virus, even as scientists around the world race to find an effective vaccine.

The media in general and social media in particular has been flooded with touching images and videos of overcrowded hospitals in Italy, Spain, the UK and France, as well as nurses and doctors complaining of a near-total absence of even basic protection or being completely overwhelmed by the incessant flood of patients in need of treatment. The virus has exposed the extent to which even the richest countries have underfunded their health care infrastructure and how unprepared the world in general is to face such pandemics.

The suspension of immunization programs for certain illnesses is not only unfortunate but a seriously risky strategy too.

Ranvir Nayar

Governments around the world have deployed all available hands to counter the spread of coronavirus and, as a result, practically every other major health care program in every country has either been suspended or reduced to a minimalistic approach. For routine health care and non-urgent interventions, this approach could perhaps be justifiable. However, fearing a COVID-19 outbreak during mass immunization drives, governments in many nations have halted critical operations against diseases such as polio, human papillomavirus, cholera, and measles.

Experts believe that, over the past three weeks, as many as 13.5 million children have missed out on vaccinations for these diseases, which could have disastrous results, including significant setbacks in the global battles to eradicate them. In the case of polio, for instance, more children will be infected and paralyzed in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the affliction has continued despite years of attempts to control it. What is more worrying is the threat that polio could re-emerge in countries that have managed to eradicate it entirely or even spread to new countries, notably in Africa. 

But polio is not the only threat on the horizon for these nations and the children without vaccination. As many as 23 nations have suspended their measles vaccination campaigns following the outbreak of the pandemic, with about 78 million children expected to miss their inoculation.

The suspension of immunization programs for these illnesses is not only unfortunate but a seriously risky strategy too. The world has made great strides in controlling or entirely eliminating a number of illnesses that had been the scourge of humankind for centuries. The wars against these diseases have come at a huge cost; not just financial, but also in terms of lives that could have been saved had the vaccinations arrived earlier.

India is a good case in point. In 2016, the country completed five years without a single incident of polio — a key landmark for the country. This was a notable achievement as, historically, India had the dubious distinction of topping the list of nations in terms of the number of polio patients. Though there is no immediate risk, the interruption of the administration of booster doses to children could see the illness staging a comeback.

A crucial fact that governments ought not to lose sight of is that each of these illnesses is a huge killer and imposes unimaginable burdens. Also, most of the afflicted countries are poor and hence unable to bear any additional burdens on their health care systems. People in these societies are also especially vulnerable to other illnesses like cholera or dysentery, which are often fatal for them, though they are easily treated in other countries. Widespread malnourishment only makes things worse.

Another risk relates to the lockdowns and other measures taken by various governments to fight coronavirus, which have effectively paralyzed the global economy. Even under normal circumstances, countries have a huge challenge in decreasing inequality between the elite and the vast masses that are increasingly getting left behind. In the absence of any savings, this large section of the population has become even more vulnerable, and the fatality rates of some of these illnesses are almost twice as high as that of coronavirus. In 2018, for instance, almost 10 million cases of measles and 140,000 deaths were registered. Global political leaders ought to keep that in mind when fighting coronavirus.

— Ranvir S. Nayar is the editor of Media India Group, a global platform based in Europe and India that encompasses publishing, communication and consultation services.