A UNICEF study, the United Nations’ children’s agency, has found that measles deaths were up globally by 22% in 2017, and complacency and fear of vaccines were among the factors leading to less vaccinations.
“If we are serious about averting the spread of this dangerous but preventable disease, we need to vaccinate every child, in rich and poor countries,” Henrietta Fore, UNICEF’s executive director, said in a news release.
More than 500,000 children in the UK did not receive the first dose of the measles vaccine between 2010 and 2017, according to the UNICEF report.
“The resurgence of measles is of serious concern, with extended outbreaks occurring across regions, and particularly in countries that had achieved, or were close to achieving measles elimination,” Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, deputy director general for programmes at WHO, said in a recent news release. “We risk losing decades of progress in protecting children and communities against this devastating but entirely preventable disease.”