A recently released ‘Lancet’ study notes that around 126 countries reported some level of disruption in routine immunization services due to the pandemic. South Asia seems to be the most affected region. However, the Union Health Ministry has denied poor coverage of immunization services due to the pandemic. Childhood immunization is important to protect children from severe illnesses and potentially life-threatening diseases such as polio, measles, whooping cough, and others. Routine immunization must be undertaken as per the recommended schedule to protect infants and children by providing immunity early in life. Vaccines are known to have reduced child mortality rates to half, saving millions of lives. Delaying or not taking a vaccine has its own risks and has the potential to affect a child’s health for life. However, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, severe disruptions in routine and essential health services including routine immunization for children were reported in many parts of the world. ‘The Lancet’ recently published a study report on the scale & extent of this disruption. 126 out of 170 countries faced some level of disruption in routine immunization due to pandemic According to a recent study published in ‘The Lancet’, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the most widespread and largest global disruption to life-saving immunization programmes in recent history, putting millions of children at risk of measles, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough) in both rich and poor countries. Some level of disruption was reported by 126 of 170 countries (74%) during the earlier phase of the pandemic. Factors such as mobility restrictions, fear of contracting SARS-CoV-2, diversion of resources towards tackling the pandemic, unavailability of healthcare workers, shortages in PPE Kits, need for social distancing, have led to the disruption around the world. The study analysed global and regional patterns in disruptions to the routine immunization through administration of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, third dose (DTP3) vaccine and measles-containing vaccine, first dose (MCV1) in 2020 based on data reported by countries and supplementary sources. The study involved modelling to estimate the number of doses expected to be given in 2020 had the pandemic not broken out and compared it with the actual number of doses administered to estimate the number of additional children who missed the routine vaccine doses in 2020 because of COVID-19. 8.5 million doses of DTP3 and 8.9 million doses of MCV1 were not given to children in 2020 due to pandemic Between January to December 2020, an estimated 30 million children missed doses of DTP3, and 27.2 million children missed MCV1 doses. An estimated 8.5 million third doses of the DTP vaccine and 8.9 million first doses of the measles vaccine were not given to children worldwide in 2020 because of the pandemic. As compared to the expected coverage levels if the COVID-19 outbreak had not taken place, DTP3 vaccine coverage dropped by 7.7% while MCV1 vaccine coverage dropped by 7.9% in 2020. The findings of the study indicated that South Asia was the most acutely affected region in 2020 with the greatest drop in vaccination coverage. An estimated 3.6 million doses of DTP3 and 2.2 million doses of MCV1 vaccine missed by eligible children due to the pandemic were in South Asia. In South Asia, DTP3 was estimated to have fallen by 13% and MCV1 by 4%, compared to expected levels, because of the pandemic. Nonetheless, between May and December 2020, vaccine delivery appeared to improve, with the monthly estimated doses administered approaching expected levels by the end of the year. 23 million children were unvaccinated or under-vaccinated in 2020, according to UNICEF Meanwhile, data published by WHO and UNICEF showed that global coverage of the third dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) fell from 86% in 2019 to 83% in 2020, the lowest since 2008. 90% of countries that reported 2020 data experienced stagnant or declining coverage of DTP3 compared to 2019, as per UNICEF. Further, 23 million children were unvaccinated or under-vaccinated as they missed out on basic vaccines through routine immunization services in 2020. More than 60% of these 23 million children lived in ten countries including India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Brazil, Philippines, Angola, and Mexico, and 17 million of them did not receive any vaccines. South Asia witnessed the sharpest decline in DTP3 coverage- from 90% in 2019 to 84% in 2020. Meanwhile, the coverage of DTP1 had dropped from 90% to 87% and coverage of MCV1 had dropped from 86% to 84%.