Global child vaccination rates tick up, but millions still left Unprotected — WHO/UNICEF

Geneva/New York, July 15, 2026 — Global childhood immunization coverage edged higher in 2025, but progress remains fragile and uneven, with 13.5 million children receiving zero vaccine doses and measles outbreaks erupting in 57 countries, according to new estimates released today by WHO and UNICEF. The numbers New WHO-UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC) data show 90% of infants worldwide — roughly 116 million children — received at least one dose of the DTP (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis) vaccine in 2025, while 85%, or 110 million, completed the full three-dose series [web:who1]. Both figures rose one percentage point from the prior year, but coverage remains a point below 2019 levels, essentially flatlined since 2009. Zero-dose children: 13.5 million – down nearly 750,000 from last year, but still alarmingly high Drop-out crisis: 7.3 million infants got their first DTP dose but never received a measles shot. Measles coverage: only 84% got a first dose (MCV1), 77% a second...