Ammon News - The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected childhood vaccination rates.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the two organizations said that "23 million children missed out on basic vaccines through routine immunization services in 2020 – 3.7 million more than in 2019."

They voiced concern that up to 17 million children likely did not receive a single vaccine during the year, leaving children at risk of diseases like measles, polio or meningitis.

WHO and UNICEF warned that multiple disease outbreaks would be 'catastrophic' for communities and health systems already battling COVID-19, stressing the need to invest in childhood vaccination.