Disruptions in routine childhood vaccinations during the Covid-19 pandemic have undone years of gains in South Asia, a UN agency said on Thursday amid estimates that show India had three million “zero-dose” children in 2020 the highest in the world.
India, which also had the largest count of partially protected children 3.5 million, or a 66 per cent increase over the previous year is among 10 countries that accounted for 62 per cent of under-vaccinated children worldwide, Unicef said.
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About 25 million children are born in India every year.
Most countries in South Asia experienced drop in childhood vaccination rates with the rates for the three full doses against diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) falling by 9 percentage points in Nepal, 7 percentage points in Pakistan and 6 percentage points in India.