UN says confidence in childhood vaccines down 44 percent worldwide

A new report conducted by the Vaccine Confidence Project published by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) concluded that confidence in childhood vaccines has dropped by 44 percent in 52 countries in recent years. The report surveyed 55 countries and all but three countries — China, India and Mexico — showed a steep decline in vaccine confidence since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korea and Papua New Guinea saw a 44 percent decline and Ghana, Senegal and Japan saw more than a one-third decrease in belief in the importance of childhood vaccines following the pandemic. In the United States there was a decline of 13.6 percent in the belief that vaccines are important for children.1 2 3 The report said that an estimated 67 million children did not receive vaccinations who otherwise would have before the pandemic was declared, with an estimated 48 million children not receiving any routine childhood vaccinations at all. Overall, vaccination levels fell in 112…