Levels of childhood immunisations have dropped alarmingly during the COVID-19 pandemic, putting millions of children at risk, United Nations agencies say. 

“The avoidable suffering and death caused by children missing out on routine immunisations could be far greater than COVID-19 itself,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday in a joint report with UNICEF.

Of the 82 countries that responded to a survey, three out of four said they had suffered coronavirus-related disruptions to their immunisation programs as of May 2020.

Most problems were linked to a lack of sufficient personal protection equipment (PPE) for health workers, travel restrictions, and low health worker staffing levels — all of which led to immunisation services being curbed or shut down.