Foreign
THE latest WUENIC estimates of national immunisation coverage reveals that Pakistan improved its national routine childhood immunisation rates in 2021 and reduced the number of ‘zero-dose’ children, ZDC, who miss out on vaccines by nearly half – a strong recovery after the number of ZDC in the country rose significantly in 2020.
The percentage of children in Pakistan who received three doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, DTP3, – a key proxy to measure for immunisation coverage, and the reach of health systems, within and across countries – rose to 83% in 2021, which is close to pre-pandemic levels, after experiencing a decline in 2020 (77%). Pakistan has also improved its first dose measles vaccine coverage by 2% between 2018 and 2021, and in 2021 launched one of the biggest measles-rubella campaigns in history.
The country’s progress in childhood vaccination and reducing zero-dose children is remarkable at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted essential health services, including routine immunisation, around the world. Zero-dose children are those that miss out on even a single dose of a basic routine vaccine, meaning that reaching them – and the missed communities they live in – improves the ability of the health system to protect its population.
Pakistan achieved these impressive results by maintaining and restoring immunisation services through, public-private partnerships for service delivery, 24/7 immunisation services in hospitals, integrated immunisation service delivery and extended evening and weekend vaccination in urban slums, amongst other collaborative efforts with partners.
Its progress is an example of how countries can maintain, restore and expand routine immunisation, while remaining committed to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. With support from Gavi and COVAX, the country has also vaccinated close to 130 million people (around 56% of the total population) with a primary series of two doses.
Following a global rollout of historic scale – with more than 4 billion COVID-19 vaccines rolled out by lower-income countries – Gavi and partners will be focused on supporting countries’ efforts to integrate COVID-19 into routine immunization programmes, leveraging opportunities to increase uptake, demand and delivery of life saving vaccines – and supporting the road to recovery and expansion of coverage.
Tokunbo Oshin, Director of High Impact Countries at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance comments on Pakistan’s progress:
“Pakistan has demonstrated its resilience and commitment to immunisation through the impressive progress it has achieved in expanding childhood vaccinations at a time when essential health services, including routine immunisation, have been disrupted by COVID-19 pandemic.
The reduction in the number of zero-dose children is particularly significant given the reduced access to vaccination centres during the pandemic, and the multiple health priorities the country had to attend to. It underscores the persistence of the government, health workers and partners who have pushed forward and improved the reach of immunisation programmes while continuing to ensure COVID-19 remains a priority.
We as a Vaccine Alliance will continue to work with Pakistan and other countries to ensure the greatest number of people can access the life-saving protection of vaccines.“
Facts and Figures:
- DTP1 – the first dose of the DTP vaccine – is a key measure of how many children receive that first, critical dose of a vaccine. In Pakistan, the number of ZDC increased significantly in 2020 – to 1 million children. However, through concerted efforts to reach ZDC, Pakistan cut this number in half – improving DTP1 coverage from 77% in 2020 to 83% in 2021.
- Pakistan has received about 111 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from COVAX (as of 29th July), representing approximately a third of the supply to the country.
- Find out more about Gavi’s work in Pakistan, here.
- For expert insights and original content and stories from around the world, visit Gavi’s online digital platform Vaccines Work.
About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 888 million children – and prevented more than 15 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 lower-income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation, above all the zero-dose children who have not received even a single vaccine shot. The Vaccine Alliance employs innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
Gavi is a co-convener of COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, together with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. In its role, Gavi is focused on procurement and delivery for COVAX: coordinating the design, implementation and administration of the COVAX Facility and the Gavi COVAX AMC and working with its Alliance partners UNICEF and WHO, along with governments, on country readiness and delivery.
The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners.
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Tags: Covid-19 GAVI Tokunbo Oshin WUENIC
