Why Millions of Kids Aren't Getting Their Routine Vaccinations

A new report released by UNICEF finds that 67 million children across the world missed out on either some or all routine vaccinations between 2019 and 2021, and 48 million children didn't receive a single dose during this time period. “It's the largest continuous decline in childhood vaccinations in 30 years," says Lily Caprani, chief of global advocacy at UNICEF.

The unvaccinated children born just before the COVID-19 pandemic, or during it, are now 3 years old — approaching the age when they would have received these vaccines, typically Hepatitis B, polio, measles, rotavirus, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. So these kids are "completely unprotected," says Caprani. Read more from NPR here.