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UN: Infant vaccination improves slightly, but funding cuts, conflict, and misinformation deepen coverage gaps
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia /Conflict & Security

UN: Infant vaccination improves slightly, but funding cuts, conflict, and misinformation deepen coverage gaps

From Asharq Al-Awsat · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Global infant vaccination rates saw a slight improvement in 2025, but significant funding cuts, conflicts, and misinformation threaten coverage gaps, the UN reported.
  • While DTP vaccination reached 90% and 85% for full series, rates remain below pre-pandemic levels, leaving millions unprotected.
  • The WHO and UNICEF warned of unprecedented outbreaks of measles, diphtheria, and cholera, linking them to funding cuts and misinformation, particularly concerning measles vaccines.

Global infant vaccination levels improved marginally in 2025, but the United Nations warns that dangerous coverage gaps are widening due to drastic funding cuts, ongoing conflicts, and the spread of misinformation.

Millions of vulnerable children are still being left unprotected due to conflict, displacement, and poverty.

— Catherine RussellUNICEF chief, explaining the consequences of insufficient vaccination coverage.

According to data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, 90% of infants worldwide received at least one dose of the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) vaccine in 2025, while 85% completed the full three-dose series. These figures represent a one-percentage-point increase from the previous year and a four-point rise since 2021. However, they still fall short of 2019 levels, before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global immunization programs.

No child should suffer from a disease that a simple vaccine can prevent.

— Catherine RussellEmphasizing the preventable nature of diseases targeted by vaccines.

"Millions of vulnerable children are still being left unprotected due to conflict, displacement, and poverty," stated UNICEF chief Catherine Russell. The agencies reported that an estimated 13.5 million children received no vaccinations in their first year in 2025, a decrease from previous years but still a significant number. A concerning trend highlighted is the dropout rate, where children receive their first DTP dose but do not complete the full schedule or receive subsequent crucial vaccines like the measles shot.

we think that this is clearly related in some settings to false information, misinformation that is provided around measles vaccination

— Kate O'BrienWHO's vaccines director, discussing reasons for vaccine dropouts.

Dr. Kate O'Brien, WHO's vaccines director, pointed to "false information, misinformation that is provided around measles vaccination" as a significant factor contributing to these dropouts. Measles coverage remains stalled at 84% for the first dose and 77% for the second, far below the 95% needed to prevent outbreaks. This has led to "unprecedented numbers of outbreaks" of measles, diphtheria, and cholera in 57 countries during 2025. O'Brien also cautioned that the full impact of recent dramatic aid cuts, particularly from the United States, may not yet be reflected in the 2025 data, raising concerns for the future.

The consequence is being felt now

— Kate O'BrienPointing to the immediate impact of low vaccination rates.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Asharq Al-Awsat in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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