Some 67 million children around the world partially or completely missed routine vaccinations between 2019 and 2021 because of lockdowns and the disruption to healthcare caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the United Nations children’s agency.

“More than a decade of hard-earned gains in routine childhood immunization have been eroded,” UNICEF warned in its annual State of the World’s Children report which was released on Wednesday, warning that getting back on track would be “challenging”.