GENEVA – GENEVA – Global childhood immunization coverage recorded modest progress in 2025, with 90% of infants—nearly 116 million children—receiving at least one dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine, while 85%, or around 110 million, completed the recommended three-dose series, according to new estimates released by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Despite the improvement of one percentage point compared with 2024, global coverage remains below pre-pandemic levels recorded in 2019 and has shown little overall progress over the past decade.
The report estimates that 13.5 million children received no vaccines at all during their first year of life in 2025—a decline of nearly 750,000 from the previous year. However, millions of children continue to start vaccination schedules without completing them, increasing the risk of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
According to the findings, an estimated 7.3 million infants received the first DTP dose but did not go on to receive their first measles vaccine. As a result, global measles vaccination coverage remained below the 95% threshold needed to prevent outbreaks, with 84% of children receiving the first dose and 77% receiving the second. In 2025, 57 countries reported large or disruptive measles outbreaks.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said global vaccination rates have recovered from the sharp declines caused by the COVID-19 pandemic but warned that conflict, displacement and poverty continue to leave millions of children without protection. She stressed the need to rebuild public trust in vaccines and ensure that every child has access to life-saving immunization.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described immunization as one of the most cost-effective and equitable public health interventions, emphasizing that every child, regardless of where they live, deserves protection against preventable diseases.
The report highlights that more than half of all zero-dose children live in fragile and conflict-affected settings, where immunization programmes are frequently disrupted by insecurity, political instability and chronic underfunding. While Syria experienced significant declines in vaccination coverage, Sudan recorded one of the world's largest annual improvements after expanding access to health services despite ongoing conflict.
Meanwhile, some middle- and high-income countries also experienced declining vaccination rates due to growing vaccine hesitancy, shifting political priorities and structural challenges.
UNICEF and WHO warned that reductions in international health financing could further undermine immunization programmes, particularly as investments in health data and disease surveillance systems decline. They urged governments and international partners to strengthen vaccination programmes in fragile settings, combat vaccine misinformation, increase funding for immunization and improve disease monitoring systems to prevent future outbreaks.
