(Maggie Fox/ CNN) — As many as 80 million babies worldwide are missing out on routine childhood vaccines because of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said Friday.
The pandemic has disrupted vaccination programs in at least 68 countries, according to a joint news release by WHO, the global vaccine initiative Gavi, the United National Children’s Fund UNICEF and the Sabin Vaccine Institute. They said 80 million children under the age of 1 were living in those countries.
“We cannot exchange one deadly outbreak for another,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore told a news conference.
WHO released new guidance to countries on how they can resume vaccination campaigns safely during the pandemic.
“One of the big issues we found is that people are reluctant to come for immunization services — out of concern for themselves, and out of concern, of course, for the health care workers,” WHO vaccine director Dr. Kate O’Brien told the news conference.