Global Immunization Coverage Stalls in 2025: WHO-UNICEF Report Highlights Progress and Persistent Gaps

Global childhood immunization coverage for the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) vaccine reached 90% of infants in 2025, according to the WHO-UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC) released July 15, 2026. While 116 million infants received at least one dose and 110 million completed the three-dose series, overall coverage remains one percentage point below 2019 levels.

The data shows a stagnation in global vaccination rates that have hovered within a narrow range since 2009. Although first-dose coverage rose by one percentage point from 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF report that millions of children remain unprotected due to poverty, displacement, and conflict.

Zero-Dose Children and Vaccination Drop-Out Rates

An estimated 13.5 million children were classified as zero-dose in 2025, meaning they did not receive a single vaccine during their first year. This figure is nearly 750,000 lower than the previous year, but the gain is offset by a growing number of children who begin the vaccination schedule but fail to complete it.

The report identifies 7.3 million infants who received their first DTP dose but dropped out before receiving their first measles dose. This trend contributed to stalled measles coverage, with only 84% of children receiving the first measles dose (MCV1) and 77% receiving the second (MCV2).

These figures fall below the 95% threshold required to prevent outbreaks of the highly contagious virus. Consequently, 57 countries reported large or disruptive measles outbreaks in 2025.

Governments and health workers have helped global vaccination rates bounce back after dropping significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. But millions of vulnerable children are still being left unprotected due to conflict, displacement, and poverty. We must reach every child, and we must rebuild trust where it is fraying. No child should suffer from a disease that a simple vaccine can prevent.

Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director

Regional Disparities and Conflict Zones

Vaccination performance varies significantly by region. South-East Asia is currently the highest performing region, and both the Americas and South-East Asia have fully recovered to or improved upon their 2019 baselines.

Conversely, the Western Pacific region experienced a decline and is now the region furthest below its 2019 baseline. While Africa, Europe, and the Eastern Mediterranean saw gains in 2025, they remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Fragile, conflict-affected, or vulnerable (FCV) settings drive much of the volatility. More than half of all zero-dose children live in FCV settings, despite these areas accounting for only about one-third of the global child population.

• Syria lost 6 percentage points on DTP1 coverage and 12 points on MCV1 in a single year.
• Sudan recorded the largest single-country gain globally last year, increasing DTP1 coverage by 35 percentage points and MCV1 by 22 points.
• 13 FCV countries are currently stagnating or falling behind in coverage.

Vaccine Hesitancy in High-Income Nations

Coverage is also slipping in middle- and high-income countries due to structural challenges and rising hesitancy. South Africa’s DTP1 coverage has fallen 20 percentage points since 2019 and continued to decline in 2025.

Bosnia and Herzegovina saw a 23-point drop in MCV1 coverage over the past year, following the largest increase in that specific coverage for the region in 2024.

Every child, whether born into wealth or poverty, peace or conflict, deserves the lifegiving protection that vaccines provide. Immunization is one of the most cost-effective, most equitable, and most reliable interventions for protecting children’s health and well-being. Our greatest security begins with ensuring that everyone, wherever they may live, is protected from deadly diseases that vaccines have the power to prevent.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General

Funding Constraints and Data System Failures

Sustained investments have reduced the number of zero-dose children by 40% over the last 25 years. In countries supported by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, 74% of children now have average coverage across a full course of WHO-recommended vaccines.

However, international health financing cuts announced over the last two years are beginning to strain the systems used to track vaccine delivery. The number of national immunization surveys submitted this round dropped to 18, compared to 50 in 2024 and an average of 33 per year between 2015 and 2019.

As Gavi heads into a new five-year period, our great challenge now will be to maintain this momentum in the face of funding constraints, geopolitical uncertainty, and increasing outbreaks – while working harder to reach those children that still do not have access to immunization.

Dr Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

To address these gaps and meet the global Immunization Agenda 2030 goals, WHO and UNICEF are calling for increased domestic and global funding, stronger data surveillance, and efforts to counter misleading health information.