Health. 14 million “zero-dose” children: Aid cuts and misinformation threaten vaccination

By 2024, 85% of children in the age group required to receive the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) vaccine had received all three doses (109 million), with the third dose serving as a key marker of global vaccination coverage, according to data released Tuesday by the United Nations health and children's agencies. This is one percentage point higher than in 2023, or one million additional children. These are "modest" gains amid numerous challenges, according to the UN.

By 2024, 14.3 million children worldwide were said to be "zero-dose"—they had not received a single dose of vaccine—a figure that is slightly lower than the figure of 14.5 million two years ago. But the figure remains higher than that recorded in 2019 (1.4 million), before the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted health services. "The good news is that we have managed to vaccinate more children with life-saving vaccines," but "millions of children remain unprotected against preventable diseases," noted UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in a statement published with the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to the WHO, the world is "off track" to meet the goal of ensuring 90% coverage among children and adolescents for key lifesaving vaccines by 2030. "Drastic cuts in aid, coupled with misinformation about vaccine safety, threaten to reverse decades of progress," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned in the statement.

The report also shows that access to vaccines remains highly unequal, and that conflicts are undermining efforts to improve vaccination coverage. This situation could worsen further with the reduction in international aid, including from the United States. "Our ability to respond to epidemics in nearly 50 countries has been disrupted by budget cuts," Ephrem Lemango, UNICEF's head of immunization, said at a press conference.

Lack of access to vaccines is the main cause of low vaccination coverage worldwide, but UN agencies also highlight the threat posed by vaccine misinformation. Reduced confidence in "vaccine safety" contributes to a potentially dangerous lack of herd immunity and the development of disease outbreaks , WHO immunization chief Kate O'Brien told reporters.

Experts are particularly warning about the situation in the United States, where Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., a notorious vaccine skeptic , has initiated a major overhaul of American health authorities and their vaccination policy. He has been accused of spreading false information about the measles vaccine, while the United States has been suffering the worst epidemic in more than 30 years since the beginning of 2025 .

In 2024, 60 countries were hit by "significant or disruptive" measles outbreaks, nearly twice as many as in 2022 (33), according to the report. Yet, two million more children were vaccinated against the disease last year than in 2023. But global vaccination coverage is far from the 95% level needed to prevent epidemics. The report also notes some good news: vaccination coverage against a range of diseases has increased in the 57 countries supported by Gavi, which supports vaccination in the poorest countries.