PARIS: Efforts to vaccinate children against deadly diseases are faltering across the world due to economic inequality, Covid-era disruptions and misinformation, putting millions of lives at risk, research warned Wednesday. These trends all increase the threat of future outbreaks of preventable diseases, the researchers said, while sweeping foreign aid cuts threaten previous progress in vaccinating the world’s children. A new study published in The Lancet journal looked at childhood vaccination rates across 204 countries and territories. It was not all bad news.

Persistent health inequalities, disruption caused by Covid-19, and soaring levels of misinformation and hesitancy are behind fall, say study’s authors

A global study finds large numbers of children are unvaccinated against diseases like measles, tuberculosis and polio, which makes outbreaks more likely.