Africa: Global Childhood Immunization Coverage Inches Forward Despite Conflict and Hesitancy - Unicef, WHO
Global childhood immunization rates for DTP vaccines saw a slight increase in 2025, yet millions of children remain unvaccinated due to conflict and poverty. Measles coverage remains below the 95% threshold, leading to significant outbreaks in 57 countries.
Why it matters
Stalled progress in global vaccination coverage poses a major public health risk, as failure to reach herd immunity thresholds threatens to reverse decades of progress against preventable diseases.
In 2025, 90% of infants globally - or nearly 116 million - received at least one dose of a diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine, and 85% - or 110 million - completed the full three-dose series, according to the annual WHO-UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC) released today.
While both indicators rose by one percentage point from the previous year, global coverage remains one point below 2019 levels - hovering within the same narrow range since 2009.
According to the data, an estimated 13.5 million "zero-dose" children did not receive a single vaccine in their first year during 2025. While these represent nearly 750 000 fewer children than the previous year, progress is offset by a rising number of children who start the schedule and do not complete it. Most of these children live in countries where national immunization programmes receive support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
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