Global vaccination stalls, millions of children at disease risk

Global efforts to vaccinate children against preventable diseases have stalled since 2010, leaving millions at risk for illnesses such as tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, and measles, according to a new study published Tuesday in The Lancet.

The analysis, conducted by researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, reveals a significant decline in vaccination rates—particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, as reported by AP.

The report warns that protection from measles dropped in 100 countries between 2010 and 2019, unraveling decades of progress. This includes setbacks in high-income countries that had previously eradicated the disease.

"After clean water, vaccination is the most effective intervention for protecting the health of our children," said Helen Bedford, a professor of children's health at University College London, who was not connected to the research.

She added that recent years have seen "a small but worrying rise in the number of parents skipping vaccination for their children," citing misinformation as one of the contributing factors.

In the UK, this trend has led to the largest number of measles cases since the 1990s and nearly a dozen deaths from whooping cough. The United States is also experiencing a drop in vaccination rates, with exemption levels hitting an all-time high.

The global immunization initiative, launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1974, was credited with inoculating over 4 billion children and saving an estimated 154 million lives.

Before the pandemic, the coverage of children receiving three doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough vaccine had nearly doubled from 40% to 81%. Measles vaccination rates increased from 37% to 83%, with similar progress for polio and tuberculosis.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted these gains. An estimated 15.6 million children missed doses of both the diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough vaccine and the measles vaccine.

Approximately 16 million children missed the polio vaccine, and 9 million did not receive the TB vaccine—most notably in sub-Saharan Africa. The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance.

Researchers also identified that over half of the world's 15.7 million unvaccinated children in 2023 lived in just eight countries: Nigeria, India, Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Indonesia, and Brazil.

Experts have voiced concern that political decisions may further hamper immunization efforts. Since former President Donald Trump initiated the withdrawal of the U.S. from the WHO and began dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, public health authorities have warned of an increased risk of infectious disease outbreaks. However, the researchers cautioned that it is too early to determine the exact impact of recent funding cuts on global vaccination rates.

The WHO has reported alarming increases in measles cases. In the Americas, there has been an 11-fold surge in infections this year compared to 2024. In Europe, measles cases doubled in 2024, while the disease remains prevalent in Africa and Southeast Asia.

"It is in everyone's interest that this situation is rectified," said Dr. David Elliman, a pediatrician who has advised the British government. "While vaccine-preventable infectious diseases occur anywhere in the world, we are all at risk."