Immunization Disruption Amid COVID-19 May Cause Vaccine-Preventable Disease Outbreaks- WHO

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd April, 2020) Shutting down immunization services amid the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to new outbreaks of diseases that can be prevented by effective vaccines, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

"When immunization services are disrupted, even for brief periods during emergencies, the risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks, such as measles and polio, increase. Last year's deadly measles outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which took more than 6,000 lives in a country already facing its largest Ebola outbreak, highlights the importance of maintaining essential health services, such as immunization in times of emergency. Further disease outbreaks will also overwhelm health systems already battling the impacts of COVID-19," the press release said.

According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, although the world community is making every effort to create a vaccine against COVID-19, it is no less important to continue vaccination against other diseases, even amid the current pandemic.

"Disease outbreaks must not remain a threat when we have safe and effective vaccines to protect us. While the world strives to develop a new vaccine for COVID-19 at record speed, we must not risk losing the fight to protect everyone, everywhere against vaccine-preventable diseases. These diseases will come roaring back if we do not vaccinate," he said, as quoted by the press release.

WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. To date, more than 2.6 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 183,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.