… Raise alarm over widening global immunisation gapBy Chioma Obinna
No fewer than 13.5 million infants missed all routine vaccines in 2025, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF warned that conflict, poverty and vaccine hesitancy are slowing global immunisation progress, leaving millions of children vulnerable to preventable diseases.
The warning came Tuesday as the two agencies released the latest WHO-UNICEF Estimates of National Immunisation Coverage (WUENIC), showing that despite gains since the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination coverage remains below pre-pandemic levels.
The report showed that 90 per cent of infants worldwide, nearly 116 million children, received at least one dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine in 2025, while 85 per cent, or about 110 million children, completed the recommended three-dose schedule. Although both figures rose by one percentage point from 2024, global coverage remains below the level recorded in 2019.
WHO and UNICEF said the number of children who received no routine vaccines fell by nearly 750,000 compared with the previous year.
