- Only 3 out of 10 girls and boys have their complete vaccination schedule.
- The serious lag in vaccination endangers the life and health of infants.
- There is a latent risk that diseases that have already been eradicated or outbreaks of others that are already controlled will resurface in the country.
Mexico has one of the most complete free vaccination schemes in the world. However, since 2018 coverage has been among the lowest in the last 20 years. According to the ENSANUT 2021 only 27.5% of one-year-old boys and girls had a complete scheme. The Covid-19 pandemic was added to this trend, since the population stopped attending health clinics and a serious vaccination lag was generated.
In the case of immunization against severe forms of tuberculosis (BCG vaccine), coverage fell to 86.6%, despite the fact that until 2018 this vaccine had one of the highest coverages (97.3%). Other vaccines that present a significant delay at the national level are the Hepatitis B vaccine with a coverage of 56.7% at the national level, followed by the Pentavalent vaccine with 70.1% coverage in girls and boys aged 1 and 2 years. For its part, the pneumococcal vaccine has a national coverage rate of 86.6%.
Vaccination is a human right and must be guaranteed for all people. In early childhood (0 to 5 years of age), vaccines are essential for the survival of girls and boys, since at this stage it is necessary to strengthen their immune system and form antibodies against diseases that could be fatal.
Every year in our country, just over 30,000 people under 5 years of age die, most of them due to preventable causes with health interventions such as vaccination. During 2019, influenza and pneumonia ranked 3rd among the causes of mortality in children under 5 years of age, and intestinal infectious diseases, 5th place.
In addition to protecting the survival and health of children, vaccination represents important savings for public health, for example, it reduces up to 75% the cost of diseases caused by intestinal infections.
It also protects the country against risks and threats in the field of public health, since if it does not have the recommended coverage, the risk of outbreaks and resurgence of diseases is a latent threat that could be reflected in human losses, economic losses, damages in the development of people and their families, and a increase in both public and private health spending.
Among the reasons why coverage is so low, the irregular supply of vaccines, false contraindications, myths and beliefs, infrastructure problems such as the cold network, complexity and lack of transparency in the vaccine purchasing process stand out. and inputs, as well as the lack of a nominal monitoring system.
According to a survey carried out by Save the Children In communities in the south of the country, the main reason why girls and boys do not have their vaccines is due to the lack of biologicals, there are also causes such as the lack of time for mothers and fathers to take their daughters and sons to health units, lack of supplies or personnel to apply the vaccines, and causes related to COVID-19 7 .
Faced with the above context, Civil Society Organizations make an urgent call to the Mexican government to:
- Establish and implement an Emergency Plan to Address and Reverse the Lags in Vaccination.
- Allocate in the 2023 Federation Expenditure Budget, sufficient and earmarked resources to: implement the aforementioned plan, improve infrastructure including the cold network, keep all biologicals supplied, strengthen the nominal information system.
- Guarantee the timely purchase of vaccines considering the times of international purchases, and ensuring their efficient distribution throughout the country, including the communities in conditions of greatest exclusion and marginalization.
- Strengthen vaccination campaigns, both informative and vaccine application days, which reach directly the communities where children live. Strengthen the role of the educational system, as they are favorable spaces to carry out vaccination days.
- Discuss and approve legislative reforms such as the initiative to reform and add various provisions of the General Law of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, the General Law of Health and the General Law of Education, regarding vaccination. Turned over to the Chamber of Deputies, in the Commission on the Rights of Children and Adolescents.
The organizations that demand to end this vaccination backlog are:
acclaim
Adivac Association for the comprehensive development of raped people AC
Beloved of the North (Sinaloense collective)
Apfa committed and United for Progress in Education in Sonora AC
Diavivir Association, learning to live with diabetes
Canitas and happy faces AC
AC High Shelter House
IAP HOME ASSISTANCE
Alizu Community Center
PILTZINCALLI AC Child Development Community Center
Nezahualpilli AC Community Center
Pedro Lopez Elias Cultural Center
Support Center for the Integration of the Child Down, AC
Comprehensive Training Center for Community Promoters, A C.
Center for Psychological Integration and Learning AC
Comprehensive Center for People with Diabetes Mellitus Type 1A.C DIME
Mexican Center for Philanthropy AC
Child Fund Mexico
Laguna Citizenship for Human Rights, AC
Happy Family Community AC
With Diabetes If You Can IAP
AC Learn Connections
Mexican Social Co-responsibility
Dedicated to Making Families Better, AC
DIE Cinvestav
Ednica IAP
Eka Jiva at the service of vulnerable groups AC
Mom’s Treasure AC
Mexican Federation of Diabetes, AC
Mexican State Front against Violence Cuautitlán Izcalli Delegation
National Women’s Front
Art, Education and Shared Talent Foundation
Foundation of Alba
Hope Foundation for Children with Diabetes Mexico AC
JUCONI Foundation
Live Longer Mexico Foundation, AC
Mexico Play AC Foundation
Foundation for Street Children IAP
Beta group of children with type one diabetes, IAP
full childhood
Together Forging a Better World AC
Milk League Nuevo Leon
Medical Impact
Mexicans First
Mexico Help me
Women at the Helm, AC
NIMA Center for the Promotion of the Human Rights of Children and Adolescents in Guanajuato AC
Happy child, happy family AC
us | Zero Shortage Collective
Opportunities for everyone
Pact for Early Childhood
PROEDUCA IAP
Children and Adolescents Network of Puebla AC
Network for Children’s Rights in Mexico REDIM
Save the Children in Mexico
Seeds of Love, Foundation for Premature Children AC
Ecological Solutions for Children, SA de CV
We are MMUSAS AC
Weaving Childhood Networks in Latin America and the Caribbean
A Kilo of AC Help
World Vision Mexico
PEOPLE
Amalia Nicole Leticia Corrales Mayorquin
Ana Paula Ojeda Colonel
Erika Vanessa Herrera Rios
Gaile Lopez
Heili Samanta Mandujano Rendon
isabel crowley
Iliana Ogarrio Santiago
Jorge Horacio Jimenez Silva
Keysy Cervantes
Luvia Espindola Mateos
Paola Cazarez
Sonia Itzel Morales Velasco
Stefany Velasquez Cruz
Yesenia Tamayo Angeles
Also read:
Drug shortages on the rise: INCan does not have Paracetamol
Drug shortages in Mexico: An increasingly serious problem
Radiography of the drug shortage in Mexico