New Delhi, Jul 16 (IANS): Countries must strengthen efforts at all levels to identify and immunise unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children, said Saima Wazed, Regional Director of World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia.

Wazed said this as the latest global data, by WHO and UNICEF showed that nearly 3.4 million children in the Southeast Asia Region, including India, did not get all vaccines being offered under the childhood immunisation programme.

About 2.7 million did not get any vaccines, leaving them vulnerable to life-threatening diseases.

This includes India, where 16 million children did not receive any vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTP), and measles.

“The increasing numbers of unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children calls for urgent and accelerated action. We need to identify where and why these children are missed and prioritise reaching them at the earliest. No child should fall sick or die of any vaccine-preventable disease when safe and effective vaccines exist to protect them against these deadly diseases,” said Wazed.

The Region is off track to achieve the 2030 immunisation agenda and the regional vaccine action plan to achieve over 90 per cent coverage with three doses of diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DTP3) vaccines in all countries.

The joint immunisation data further shows DTP1 coverage in the Region at 92 per cent, below the pre-pandemic 94 per cent in 2019, and DTP3 coverage, an indicator of full immunisation, at 90 per cent, less than pre-pandemic 91 per cent in 2019.

Children receiving the first dose of measles vaccine -- typically at 9 or 12 months -- declined to 91 per cent in 2023 from 94 per cent in 2019, while coverage with the second dose of measles vaccine administered to children between 18 months and five years old remained relatively constant at 85 per cent.

Wazed called for “tailored approaches, identified in consultation with the affected communities”.

The recent years have, however, seen many public health advances facilitated by vaccination – such as the elimination of polio and maternal and neonatal tetanus, while some countries have eliminated measles, rubella, and controlled hepatitis B among children in the region.