Global Childhood Vaccination Rates Improve Slightly, Gaps Persist

In 2024, global childhood vaccination rates showed modest improvement, with more children receiving essential immunizations against diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, and HPV. Despite this progress, nearly 20 million children missed at least one vaccine dose, including over 14 million who received none, with the majority living in conflict-affected or fragile settings.

In 2024, an estimated 89% of infants worldwide received at least one dose of the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) vaccine, according to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. Meanwhile, 85%, or 109 million, completed the full three-dose series, marking modest gains compared to the previous year.

“Vaccines save lives, allowing individuals, families, communities, economies, and nations to flourish,” says Tedros Adhanom, Director General, WHO. “It is encouraging to see a continued increase in the number of children being vaccinated, although we still have a lot of work to do.”

These figures represent incremental improvements, with roughly 171,000 more children receiving a first dose and 1 million more completing the full regimen compared to 2023. However, nearly 20 million children missed at least one DTP dose in 2024, including 14.3 million who received no vaccinations at all, referred to as “zero-dose” children. This figure exceeds the 2024 target set by the Immunization Agenda 2030 by 4 million and is 1.4 million higher than in 2019, the initiative's baseline year.

Although countries continue efforts to recover immunization services disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges such as reduced aid, misinformation, fragile health systems, and armed conflict are threatening long-term progress.

Children living in conflict zones or areas experiencing humanitarian crises are particularly affected. Although they represent 25% of the world’s infant population, they account for half of all unvaccinated children globally. In these fragile contexts, the number of unvaccinated children has increased from 3.6 million in 2019 to 5.4 million in 2024.

“Millions of children remain without protection against preventable diseases, and that should worry us all,” says Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF. “We must act now to overcome barriers like shrinking health budgets, misinformation, and conflict.”

Efforts to broaden protection against other vaccine-preventable diseases continue. The HPV vaccine saw a notable increase in coverage, rising from 17% in 2019 to 31% in 2024 for eligible adolescent girls. This growth was largely driven by expanded national rollouts and increased use of single-dose schedules in lower-income countries. Still, the goal of reaching 90% coverage by 2030 remains distant.

Coverage for measles also rose slightly, with 84% of children receiving the first dose and 76% receiving the second. However, over 30 million children remain under-protected, contributing to a rise in large or disruptive measles outbreaks, which doubled from 33 countries in 2022 to 60 in 2024.

To address these challenges, WHO and UNICEF are calling on global leaders and partners to close funding gaps for Gavi’s 2026–2030 strategic cycle, reinforce immunization systems in fragile settings, prioritize domestic investment, counter misinformation, and invest in robust data and disease surveillance systems.