Quique Bassat

Global vaccination efforts have achieved an 88% reduction in measles deaths between 2000 and 2024, and nearly 59 million lives have been saved by the vaccine since the beginning of the century, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). However, an estimated 95,000 people—mostly children under the age of five—died from measles in 2024, a disease that could be prevented with an effective, low-cost vaccine. Although the death toll is one of the lowest in this period, measles cases are on the rise worldwide, with an estimated 11 million infections in 2024, nearly 800,000 more than pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Specifically, cases in Europe increased by 47% between 2019 and 2024.

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been linked to rare cases of heart inflammation in children and young people. The largest study of these risks in children, published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, concluded that receiving the vaccine is associated with a risk of developing myocarditis or pericarditis within six months of 0.85 additional cases per 100,000 vaccinated children; while after COVID-19 infection, the risk is 2.24 additional cases per 100,000. The study used data from 98% of the British population under the age of 18 (almost 14 million) between January 2020 and December 2022.

Childhood vaccination rates have increased modestly worldwide in 2024, without reaching their pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, according to data from the WHO and UNICEF. For example, global measles vaccination coverage rose by one percentage point from the previous year, reaching 84% of girls and boys who had received one dose in 2024, compared to 86% in 2019.

The Member States of the World Health Organisation (WHO), meeting on Monday in Committee A of the World Health Assembly, approved a resolution calling for the adoption of a historic global pact to make the world safer from future pandemics. On Tuesday, the Assembly, in plenary session, adopted by consensus the world's first agreement on pandemics.

The new US president, Donald Trump, announced on his first day that the country will leave the World Health Organisation (WHO) within the next twelve months. The reasons behind the decision, according to him, are the ‘mismanagement of the covid-19 pandemic and other global health crises’, as well as ‘disproportionate payments compared to other countries’ dues’.

A team led by the CEU San Pablo University has analysed the role of vaccination against influenza on the risk of infection and mortality. The meta-analysis, published in European Respiratory Review, includes 192 articles from different countries over the last 20 years and includes data from more than 6.5 million patients. The results show that the level of protection varies according to age group and influenza subtype. Although it does not reduce the risk of infection for influenza A H3N2 in those over 65 years of age, nor does it show a reduction in mortality for influenza B - which is less associated with mortality than influenza A - overall, vaccination is shown to be effective in both preventing infection and reducing mortality.

Toledo and Alicante are suffering the first outbreaks of measles recorded in Spain since the pandemic, El País reported today. In total, 15 cases have been confirmed since 1 January, of which seven are imported and eight autochthonous.

Since mid-October, northern China has reported an increase in influenza-like illness compared to the same period in the previous three years. On 21 November, the media and the ProMED system reported outbreaks of pneumonia of undiagnosed cause in children in northern China. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is unclear whether these are related to the overall increase in respiratory infections previously reported by the Chinese authorities or are separate episodes. In a statement, the WHO has officially requested detailed information from China on this increase in respiratory illnesses and outbreaks of childhood pneumonia.

According to estimates by the United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN-IGME) published by UNICEF, in 2021 some 5 million children died before their fifth birthday, and another 2.1 million children and young people did it between the ages of 5 and 24. Additionally, 1.9 million babies were stillborn during the same period.

A systematic review and meta-analysis published in JAMA Network Open examines whether there is an association between newborn exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and impaired neurodevelopment compared to those born before the pandemic. Neurodevelopment in the first year of life was not modified by being born or growing up during the covid-19 pandemic or by gestational exposure to SARS-CoV-2. However, the authors appreciated that, regardless of whether maternal infection was present, the pandemic was associated with a risk of delayed communication in these infants.