COVID-19 caused significant declines in regular vitamin A supplementation for young children in 2020: what is next?

### Summary box In efforts to restrict the spread of SARS-CoV-2, many low-income and middle-income countries suspended community-based public health and nutrition programmes in early 2020. At the time, the expectation was that disruptions due to the COVID-19 response would cause significant declines in programme coverage of key services, and eventually increase preventable morbidity and mortality among the most vulnerable children.1 The magnitude of the pandemic’s impact on preventive vitamin A supplementation (VAS) programmes is now made visible in UNICEF’s annual programme coverage data. Regular administration of high-dose VAS to children 6–59 months old every 4–6 months reduces the risk of child mortality by 12%–24% in communities where vitamin A deficiency is prevalent.2 Prior to the pandemic, the global VAS programme reached over 200 million children annually with the recommended two VAS doses in countries with high child mortality. Between 2016 and 2019, coverage had been hovering at around 65% of eligible children. In the year prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, about 200 million eligible children benefited from the two annual …