The United Nations agencies have requested governments to fill the funding deficit for the next Gavi strategic cycle (2026-2030) in order to protect millions of children in low-income countries, strengthen vaccination in conflict situations and fragility to reach more children and prevent potentially fatal disease epidemics.
According to them, the priority must be given to local strategies and national investments, resolutely integrating vaccination into primary health care systems with a view to filling inequalities, fighting false information and increasing the acceptance of vaccination by means of approaches based on evidence and investing in data and monitoring systems to guide the vaccination programs strong impact.
According to the new data on national vaccination coverage published by the WHO and UNICEF, 89 % of infants around the world, or almost 115 million, received at least one dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping vaccine (DTC), and 85 %, that is, some 109 million, all of the three doses recommended in 2024 to compare 2023. 171,000 additional children received at least one dose of the DTC vaccine, and one million of them all of the three doses.
However, despite this constant progress, nearly 20 million infants did not receive at least one dose of the DTC vaccine last year. Among them are 14.3 million “zero dose” children who have never been vaccinated. These are four million non -vaccinated children too much in order to reach the target of 2024 necessary to remain on the right track of the objectives of the vaccination program by 2030, as well as 1.4 million additional children compared to 2019, the reference year to measure progress.
Lots of work still to do
The director general of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stressing the increase in vaccinated children, said that there is still a lot of work to be accomplished.
“The persistence of non -vaccination and insufficient vaccination of children is often due to a combination of factors, including limited access to vaccination services, disturbances in supply, conflicts and instability, false information surrounding vaccines”, he said.
As for the director general of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, she calls for determination in order to overcome obstacles such as the reduction of health budgets, the fragility of health systems, false information and access restrictions induced by conflicts. “No child should die from an illness that we know how to avoid. Expand protection against vaccination preventable diseases ”she said.
She highlighted the efforts of countries supported by the Alliance of the Vaccine, GAVI, with the introduction and deployment of papillomavirus vaccines, meningitis, pneumococcal infection, polio and rotaviruses.
For her part, the executive director of Gavi, Dr Sania Nishtar, reminded governments and partners to maintain their level of engagement to save lives and protect the world against the outbreak of infectious diseases.
“The vaccination coverage against measles has also improved, the percentage of children who received the first dose and the second dose of the vaccine having increased slightly compared to the previous year, going 84 % and 76 % respectively” respectively “he said. He added that “two million additional children were vaccinated in 2024 according to estimates. This coverage remains very below the 95 % coverage to be reached in each community to prevent epidemics. ”
