The U.N. warned Tuesday that vaccine-related misinformation and steep aid cuts are widening coverage gaps and endangering millions of children, despite global infant inoculation rates stabilizing after declines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2024, 85% of infants globally, or 109 million, had received three doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP), with the third dose serving as a key marker for global immunisation coverage, according to data published by the U.N. health and children's agencies.
That marked an increase of one percentage point and a million more children covered than a year earlier, in what the agencies described as "modest" gains.
At the same time, nearly 20 million infants missed at least one of their DTP doses last year, including 14.3 million so-called zero-dose" children who never received a single shot.
While a slight improvement over 2023, when the United Nations said there were 14.5 million zero-dose children, it was 1.4 million more than in 2019 – before the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on global vaccination programs.
"The good news is that we have managed to reach more children with life-saving vaccines," UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a joint statement.
"But millions of children remain without protection against preventable diseases," she said.
"That should worry us all."
The World Health Organization, meanwhile, warned that the planet was "off track" for reaching its goal of ensuring that 90% of the world's children and adolescents receive essential vaccines by 2030.
"Drastic cuts in aid, coupled with misinformation about the safety of vaccines, threaten to unwind decades of progress," warned WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Tuesday's report cautioned that vaccine access remains deeply unequal, with widespread conflicts eroding efforts to boost vaccine coverage.
Dramatic cuts to international aid by the United States, in particular, but also by other countries, could further worsen the situation.
"Our ability to respond to outbreaks in nearly 50 countries has been disrupted due to the funding cuts," UNICEF immunization chief Ephrem Lemango told reporters.
While lack of access was the main cause of low coverage globally, the agencies also highlighted the threat of misinformation.
Dwindling trust in "hard-earned evidence around the safety of the vaccines" is contributing to dangerous immunity gaps and outbreaks, WHO vaccine chief Kate O'Brien told reporters.
Experts have sounded the alarm in the United States, especially, where Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has himself long been accused of spreading vaccine misinformation, including about the measles vaccine, even as the U.S. grapples with its worst measles epidemic in 30 years.
Last year, 60 countries experienced large and disruptive outbreaks of the highly contagious disease, nearly doubling from 33 in 2022, the report showed.
An estimated 2 million more children worldwide were vaccinated against measles in 2024 than the year before, but the global coverage rate remained far below the 95% needed to avert its spread.
On a positive note, Tuesday's report showed that vaccine coverage against a range of diseases had inched up last year in the 57 low-income countries supported by the vaccine alliance Gavi.
"In 2024, lower-income countries protected more children than ever before," Gavi chief Sania Nishtar said.
But the data also indicated "signs of slippage" emerging in upper-middle and high-income countries where coverage had previously been at least 90%.
"Even the smallest drops in immunization coverage can have devastating consequences," O'Brien said.
