UN warns of cracks in global immunization system
Global infant vaccination levels improved slightly last year, the U.N. said on June 15, but warned that drastic funding cuts, conflicts and misinformation were deepening dangerous coverage gaps and allowing outbreaks to surge.
In 2025, 90 percent of infants globally, or nearly 116 million, received at least one dose of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP), while 85 percent completed the full three-dose series, according to data published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, the United Nations’ health and children’s agencies.
On the surface, those numbers look promising, with both indicators up one percentage point from 2024 and up four points since 2021.
But they remained one point below the levels in 2019, before the COVID pandemic wreaked havoc on global vaccination programs.
