Following years of declines in measles vaccination coverage, global measles cases in 2022 increased by 18 percent and deaths by 43 percent (compared to 2021), bringing the estimated number of cases to 9 million and deaths to 136,000, mostly among children.
This is indicated by a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States, where they specify that measles continues to pose an increasing threat to children.
In 2022, 37 countries experienced large or disruptive outbreaks compared with 22 countries in 2021. Among the nations experiencing outbreaks, 28 were in the WHO African Region, six in the Eastern Mediterranean, two in South-East Asia and one in the European Region.
“The rise in measles outbreaks and deaths is staggering, but unfortunately not unexpected given the declining vaccination rates we’ve seen in recent years,” said John Vertefeuille, director of CDC’s Division of Global Immunization.
In this regard, she noted that measles cases anywhere represent a risk for all countries and communities where people are not sufficiently vaccinated. “Urgent and targeted efforts are essential to prevent measles disease and deaths.”
Measles can be prevented with two doses of measles vaccine.
While 2022 saw a modest increase in global vaccination coverage compared to 2021, there were still 33 million children who missed a dose of measles vaccine: nearly 22 million missed their first dose and another 11 million missed their second dose.
The global vaccination coverage rate for the first dose, at 83 percent, and for the second dose, at 74 percent, was still far below the 95 percent coverage with the two doses needed to protect communities from outbreaks.
Low-income countries, where the risk of death from measles is highest, continue to have the lowest vaccination rates, at just 66 percent – a rate that shows no recovery from the decline during the pandemic.
Of the 22 million children who missed their first dose of measles vaccine in 2022, more than half live in just 10 countries: Angola, Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Pakistan and the Philippines.
“The failure to recover measles vaccine coverage in low-income countries after the pandemic is a wake-up call for action. Measles is called the virus of inequity for good reason. It is the disease that will find and attack those who are not protected,” said Kate O’Brien, Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals at WHO. “Children everywhere have the right to be protected by the life-saving measles vaccine, no matter where they live.”
In response, CDC and WHO urge countries to find and vaccinate all children against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases and encourage global stakeholders to help countries vaccinate their most vulnerable communities.
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