UN urges resumption of mass measles and polio vaccinations

Unicef and WHO say Covid disruption has left 94 million without measles immunisation

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Unicef and the World Health Organization have called for urgent action to prevent millions of avoidable child deaths from measles and polio by resuming mass vaccinations disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

They say that while there is no vaccine against the coronavirus yet, there are very effective immunisations against these two killer diseases, and children should not be left at risk. Measles vaccination prevented 23.2 million deaths between 2000 and 2018, they say, and polio was on the brink of eradication before the pandemic hit, with more than 18 million people walking around who would have been paralysed without a vaccination.