UN Warns of Cracks in Global Immunisation System
UN agencies say 57 countries reported large or disruptive measles outbreaks in 2025 as first-dose coverage stalled at 84%, far below the 95% needed.
- On Wednesday, the World Health Organization and UNICEF reported that 90 percent of infants globally, or nearly 116 million, received at least one DTP vaccine dose in 2025, though coverage remains below 2019 pre-pandemic levels.
- Dropouts contributed to measles coverage stalling at 84 percent, far short of the 95 percent required to prevent spread, as UN agencies warned of 13.5 million 'zero-dose' children and "unprecedented numbers of outbreaks."
- Surveillance has been "considerably impacted" by aid cuts since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, with only 18 national immunisation surveys submitted for 2025, down from 50 previously.
- UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said "millions of vulnerable children are still being left unprotected due to conflict, displacement, and poverty," while WHO's vaccines director Kate O'Brien called misinformation a "very significant concern."
- WHO officials expressed "concerns are very much for what's happening in programmes in 2026 and what is yet to come," noting that 2025 data may not yet reflect the full impact of funding cuts.
15 Articles
15 Articles
UN warns of cracks in global immunisation system
In 2025, 90 percent of infants globally, or nearly 116 million, received at least one dose of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP), while 85 percent completed the full three-dose series, according to data published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, the United Nations' health and children's agencies. On the surface, those numbers look promising, with both indicators up one percentage point from 2024 and up …
Global child immunization coverage continues to recover, but still falls short of pre-Pandemic levels, and WHO and UNICEF fear that aid cuts will slow progress
The overall vaccination coverage improved little in 2025 and continued below the levels observed in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, show new data released this Tuesday night by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). In the Americas, however, the percentage exceeded that recorded before the coronavirus health crisis. The indicator used by the authorities is the coverage with the triple bacterial v…
Worldwide infant vaccination coverage continues to improve, but with a still insufficient pace to recover pre-pandemic levels. This is what emerges from the new annual estimates on vaccine coverage (WUENIC), published today by Oms and Unicef, according to which in 2025 90% of children in the world were given at least one dose of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP), while approximately 110 million were at the same time com…
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