Childhood vaccinations were a casualty of the spring 2020 lockdowns, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds.

Vaccination rates for children under two years old fell by about 20 percent while rates for older children fell by over 60 percent between March and May 2020 

The rate for DtaP shots - including diphtheria and tetanus - fell by 38 percent overall compared to 2018-2019, while the rate for MMR shots - measles, mumps, and rubella - fell by 43 percent.

Though immunization rates rose in the summer of 2020 after lockdown orders lifted, the increase wasn't enough to catch up the kids who missed their shot earlier in the year.

This lack of catch-up vaccinations 'might pose a serious public health threat' because disease outbreaks could threaten school reopenings and other post-COVID recovery efforts, the CDC researchers say.

The U.D. has made great strides towards reducing infectious disease outbreaks in recent decades thanks to childhood vaccinations.

'Before the measles vaccine was licensed in 1963, the virus infected at least two million Americans a year,' Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease exprt, wrote in 2019. 

This virus caused hundreds of deaths and thousands of hospitalizations each year.

The COVID pandemic threatened progress against measles and other diseases the new report confirms.