Childhood immunization has bounced back to pre-Covid levels in five South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, according to new data from the WHO and Unicef.
The coverage is now higher than 2019 levels in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan and the Maldives, says a report published on Tuesday.
Immunization services in South Asia reached 1.96 million more children in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Countries stepped up efforts to address the historic backsliding in immunization caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to save children's lives, Unicef said in a statement.
According to the data, in 2022, the coverage of the third dose of diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccines (DTP3) increased by 6%, from 85% in 2021 to 91% in South Asia.
The DTP vaccine is used as a global marker for immunization coverage.
In Bangladesh, Unicef highlighted several digital health interventions, including eTracker, GIS-based eMicroplanning and child biometry for immunization, which improved access and made it easier for parents to get their children vaccinated.
"South Asia's progress in catching up with life-saving vaccinations is tremendous news for the children in the region, who now have a better chance of being protected against deadly diseases such as measles, tetanus, and more,” Noala Skinner, Unicef deputy regional director for South Asia, was quoted as saying in a statement.
"We owe this progress to the leadership of countries, the investment of donors and partners, the tenacity of millions of vaccinators and the commitment of parents to get their children vaccinated despite several challenges during and after the Covid-19 pandemic waves,” she said.
Among the eight South Asian countries, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, India and the Maldives have fully recovered to their pre-Covid coverage levels.
Sri Lanka and Nepal have made significant strides towards achieving complete recovery but are yet to fully catch up.
Though progress has been made in Afghanistan, more efforts are needed to reach over 400,000 missing children with vaccination services.
All countries, except Afghanistan and Pakistan, achieved vaccine coverage of above 90% for DTP3, which is considered very high.
According to the data, in 2022, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal had the highest percentage reductions in the number of children who were not vaccinated at all, with a decrease of 58%, 50% and 38% respectively.
In India, the number of children without any vaccines decreased from 2.7 million in 2021 to 1.13 million in 2022.
The percentage of children vaccinated with the new pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, which protect children against pneumonia, jumped 28% from 44% in 2021 to 72% in 2022.
Vaccination for the first dose of the measles vaccine - one of the most contagious vaccine-preventable diseases - increased from 87% in 2021 to 92% in 2022.
This was higher than the 2% increase globally.
As a result, an additional 1.94 million children were vaccinated against the deadly disease in South Asia in 2022.
However, the regional coverage for the first dose of the measles vaccine is still lower than the target of 95% needed to prevent measles outbreaks.
According to WHO surveillance data, there were 54,959 measles cases in South Asia in 2022, nearly triple the reported cases in 2021.
Despite the progress, Unicef has stated that an estimated 3 million children out of the 34 million surviving infants in South Asia did not receive the three recommended doses of the DTP vaccine and are not fully vaccinated.
Even within countries, disparities exist that require targeted interventions to vaccinate children.
