Globally, millions of kids are at heightened risk of deadly diseases due to stalled or reversed vaccination coverage majorly due to health inequalities, hesitancy and growing misinformation, a report published in The Lancet has warned.
It flagged that global immunisation targets for 2030 as envisioned by the WHO in 2019 through the immunization Agenda will not be achieved without “transformational improvements in equity.”
If major progress in rolling out jabs to billions of children in all corners of the globe over the last five decades has prevented the deaths of 154 million children, since 2010, progress has slowed and, in some areas of the world, reversed, said the report based on the voluminous data, collected from over 1,000 sources across 204 countries.
Measles vaccination rates have dropped in 100 countries, and 21 of 36 high-income nations, including the US, UK, France, and Japan, have seen declining coverage for essential vaccines such as those for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, and polio, said the report published on Tuesday.
The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted vaccination efforts, further leaving millions of children vulnerable to preventable diseases. Dr. Jonathan Mosser, a lead author of the study, highlighted that despite past successes, significant numbers of children remain either under-vaccinated or not vaccinated at all.
In 2023, it pointed out, more than half of the world’s 15.7 million unvaccinated children were living in just eight countries including India.
The analysis indicated that accelerated progress will be necessary to achieve the 2030 target of halving the number of zero-dose children compared to 2019 levels, with only 18 of 204 countries and territories estimated to have already met this target as of 2023.
“Two-thirds (65%) of the zero-dose children that need to be reached by vaccination between 2023 and 2030 live in sub-Saharan Africa (4.28 million) and South Asia (1.33 million).”
Country-wise, in Nigeria, 2.48 million children remained unvaccinated followed by India (1.44 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo (882,000), Ethiopia (782,000), Somalia (710,000), Sudan (627,000), Indonesia (538,000), and Brazil (452,000).
The report pointed that vaccine-preventable outbreaks, including measles and polio, are becoming an increasing global concern. Polio cases have surged in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Papua New Guinea, and Europe saw a tenfold rise in measles cases in 2024. By May 2025, the US had already recorded more than 1,000 measles cases, surpassing the total number for the previous year.
It also showed that recent declines in vaccine uptake are particularly pronounced in high-income countries. For example, Argentina saw a 12 per cent drop in first-dose measles vaccination, while Finland and Austria experienced declines in whooping cough vaccination rates.
The report pointed to the rise in vaccine misinformation and hesitancy as a key factor behind the faltering progress. Dr. Emily Haeuser, one of the study’s authors said and emphasised the need for efforts to better understand and address public concerns and beliefs about vaccines. (Agencies)
