Sign up for our special edition newsletter to get a daily update on the coronavirus pandemic.

WHO officials warned Monday that children across the globe will die as countries halt or scale back their immunization efforts for diseases such as polio amid the coronavirus.

“Myths and misinformation about vaccines are adding fuel to the fire, putting vulnerable people at risk,’’ said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, at a press conference.

“When vaccination coverage goes down, more outbreaks will occur, including of life-threatening diseases like measles and polio.

“Every year, more than 116 million infants are vaccinated, or 86 percent of all children born globally, but there are still more than 13 million children around the world who miss out on vaccination. We know that that number will increase because of COVID-19,’’ Tedros said.

“The tragic reality is that children will die as a result.”

He said that any concerns over children and parents contracting COVID-19 when they see their doctor during an immunization visit are far outweighed by the risk of getting another more deadly or otherwise debilitating disease by not getting vaccinated.

“Children may be at relatively low risk from severe disease and death from COVID-19 but can be at high risk from other diseases that can be prevented with vaccines,’’ Tedros said.

The top doc added that border closures and restricted travel within countries has only added to the debacle by creating shortages of the immunizations for those who want them.

He said Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — a public-private partnership involved with global immunization — has estimated that at least 21 poorer countries are already reporting vaccine shortages because of transportation issues.

Consequently, “so far, 14 vaccination campaigns supported by Gavi against polio, measles, cholera, human papillomavirus, yellow fever and meningitis have been postponed, which would have immunized more than 13 million people,’’ Tedros said.

“Immunization is one of the greatest success stories in the history of global health,’’ with more than 20 diseases prevented by vaccines, he said.

Yet “already, polio-vaccination campaigns have been put on hold and in some countries, routine immunization services are being scaled back or shut down.”

He added that now, “with the start of the Southern Hemisphere flu season, it’s vital that everyone gets their seasonal flu vaccine.”

But “even when services are operating, some parents and caregivers are avoiding taking their children to be vaccinated because of concerns about COVID-19.”

Worried pediatricians in the US are reporting a dangerous drop in childhood immunizations because of the coronavirus as well.

For example, the number of MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) shots for children fell 40 percent during the week of April 12 compared to the week of Feb. 16, TV’s “Today’’ show reported, citing PCC, the Vermont company that receives data from 1,000 pediatricians across the US from its software programs.

In addition, the number of DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) vaccinations dropped by 24 percent, while HPV immunizations plummeted by 62 percent, the data showed.

“If we are not smart now about making sure that kids stay on schedule in terms of getting their immunization, we may be inadvertently creating another public-health problem just as we’re trying to manage this one,” Dr. Christina Johns of PM Pediatrics, which operates urgent-care facilities across the US, told “Today.”

The New York state Health Department said it is following widespread guidelines by encouraging the continuation of childhood vaccinations amid the virus.

“Health care providers are encouraged to maintain routine childhood immunization services during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the DOH said in a statement to The Post.

It suggested that doctors use “strategies to separate well patients from sick patients, such as scheduling well-child appointments in the morning and sick visits in the afternoon, and/or placing sick patients and well patients in separate physical locations.

“Newborn care and vaccination of young children should be prioritized in order to protect vulnerable children and prevent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases,” the department said.

The state added that its records show that between March 1 and April 1 at least — the most recent data available — “childhood vaccination rates in New York state have not declined.’’

But New York City pediatric nurse Nonna Rivkin, who works out of an office in Forest Hills, Queens, told The Post she’s recently seen a more than 50 percent drop in the number of children who would normally be coming in for vaccinations.

“Some of these children are completely un-immunized, and there is always a big risk,’’ Rivkin said Monday.

“For example, whooping cough never goes away from the population, and being under-vaccinated with whooping cough is a very big concern, especially in children under a year where it could cause difficulty in breathing.

“So we would advise immunization,’’ she said.

“However, we understand the difficult psychological part of that. It’s impossible to pressure people who are so anxious about their family and tell them that is more important.

“But from the point of pediatrics, it’s very, very worrisome to have under-vaccinated children.”

Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli