“The Big Catch-Up”
In response to the marked decline in childhood vaccination rates around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic of the past three years, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and other organizations are partnering in an international campaign designed to boost vaccination rates among children. The effort, expected to last 18 months, is being touted as “The Big Catch-up.”1 2 3 4 5 6 7
According to the WHO:
This effort aims to reverse the declines in childhood vaccination recorded in over 100 countries since the pandemic, due to overburdened health services, closed clinics, and disrupted imports and exports of vials, syringes and other medical supplies. Meanwhile, communities and families experienced lockdowns, restricting travel and access to services, and financial and human resources were limited along with access to health commodities, due to the emergency response. Ongoing challenges like conflicts, climate crises and vaccine hesitancy also contributed to the decline in coverage rates.2 3
In July 2022, the WHO and UNICEF released global data showing the largest sustained drop in childhood vaccinations in three decades. Reportedly, more than 25 million children missed at least one dose of the routine childhood vaccines in 2021, which is an increase of six million and two million compared with 2019 and 2020, respectively.1 2 3 4 5
Twenty Countries Will Be Targeted
The focus of The Big Catch-up will be on 20 low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America where 75 percent of the children who missed vaccinations lives. These countries include Afghanistan, Angola, Brazil, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, Madagascar, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Tanzania and Vietnam.2 3 4
In the United States, less than 70 percent of the children under two years old were considered to be fully vaccinated during 2020-2021 for diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and measles.5
“To ensure progress on childhood immunization, partners are working with countries to strengthen health care workforces, improve health service delivery, build trust and demand for vaccines within communities, and address gaps and obstacles to restoring immunization,” states the WHO, adding, “In addition to catching-up on childhood immunization, intensified efforts are needed to introduce the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to adolescents to prevent cervical cancer, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where the burden is highest.”3
Biggest Push to Get Kids Vaccinated Ever?
The Big Catch-up may end up being the “largest childhood immunization effort ever,” said Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation and also vice chair of the CHAI. She encouraged the “public sector” to “stop doing things like stripping away public health emergency powers from state public health agencies”—comments which suggest Clinton is in favor of strictly enforced mandatory vaccination policies.8 9
She is co-author of a 2021 article in the Lancet that called for the U.S. government to target “anti-vaccine activist groups and state actors,” concluding that:
Interagency government task forces need to be established to examine options for countering coordinated disinformation from both national anti-vaccine activist groups and state actors. Beyond the Health and Human Services agencies, such as the CDC, all government agencies must recognise the impact of anti-vaccine activities on homeland security, commerce, and justice, and consider representation from these branches of the federal government. Efforts must also include the Department of State to address the weaponised health communication around COVID-19 vaccines.10
Clinton is also co-author of a 2022 article published in the Lancet calling for COVID vaccine mandates in the U.S. On the Clinton Foundation website established in 1997 by her parents, Bill and Hillary Clinton, who have been longtime champions of mandatory vaccination, she is quoted in People Magazine as being “on a mission to combat the small but vocal anti-vaccine movement.”2 5 7 11 12 13
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