Nearly 3 in 4 babies live in areas where low vaccination rates cause measles outbreaks: UN

More children were left out of crucial vaccination campaigns against diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough last year as rising conflicts around the world hampered the delivery of life-saving vaccines, especially in conflict-torn regions, the United Nations said Monday.

The UN estimates that around 14.5 million children worldwide were not vaccinated in 2023, compared to 13.9 million a year earlier. However, the number was lower than during the COVID-19 pandemic, when around 18 million children missed vaccinations.

According to the UN, another 6.5 million children received no more than one dose, meaning they were not fully protected.

The estimates are based on the number of children who received the first dose or all three doses of the DTP vaccine. This is a basic vaccination that provides protection against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.

Globally, 84 percent of infants received the full course of vaccination last year, which is below the level needed to prevent disease outbreaks.

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Major measles outbreak expected without improved vaccination rates, modeling shows

Quebec has opened measles vaccination clinics as officials fear a major outbreak could put thousands of children at risk of becoming very sick or even dying. The number of confirmed cases in Canada in 2024 has already surpassed the total for 2023, and modeling shows the number could quickly spiral out of control if vaccination rates don’t increase.

Especially in war-affected countries, a large increase in the number of children who have not been vaccinated can be seen in 2023. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) said this at a press conference last week, before the data was released.

Declining coverage in conflict areas

The largest drop in vaccination rates globally was in Sudan, which has been decimated by 15 months of civil war, with coverage rates falling from 75 percent in 2022 to 57 percent in 2023.

This means that nearly 701,000 children in Sudan have not been vaccinated at all against deadly diseases such as measles and diphtheria.

The data also showed that vaccination rates against the deadly measles disease have stagnated, leaving nearly 35 million children unprotected or only partially protected.

In 2023, only 83 percent of children worldwide received their first dose of the measles vaccine through routine health services, while the number of children receiving their second dose increased slightly from the previous year, to 74 percent of children. A 95 percent vaccination coverage is needed to prevent measles outbreaks.

The number of children in the occupied Palestinian territories who were not vaccinated rose to 17,000 in the first nine months of last year, based on data available through September, compared with 1,000 in 2021, the agencies said.

Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan were all new to the list of the 20 countries with the most unvaccinated children (or children who have not received vaccinations) in 2023.

According to UNICEF, more than half of unvaccinated children live in fragile, conflict-affected countries, yet these countries account for only 28 percent of the global birth cohort.

There were also positives in the UN report. For example, there were about 600,000 fewer children who did not receive a dose in the African region in 2023 than in 2022, and coverage of the HPV vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer, also improved globally. Ukraine also saw an improvement despite the war with Russia.