The United Nations Children's Fund on Friday warned that millions of children are in danger of missing life-saving vaccines against measles, diphtheria, and polio due to disruptions in immunization services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that most countries had suspended mass polio immunization campaigns and 25 countries had postponed mass measles immunization campaigns, said UNICEF in a press release, adding that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, measles, polio, and other vaccines were out of reach every year for 20 million children below the age of one.

Over 13 million children below the age of one did not receive any vaccines at all in 2018, it added.

Given the current disruptions, this could create pathways to disastrous outbreaks in 2020 and beyond, warned UNICEF.

Between 2010 and 2018, Ethiopia had the highest number of children under 1 year of age who missed out on the first dose of measles, at nearly 10.9 million. It was followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (6.2 million), Afghanistan (3.8 million), Chad, Madagascar, and Uganda with about 2.7 million each, said UNICEF.