Despite vaccine hesitancy spreading worldwide, the number of children receiving the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP) vaccine has slightly increased, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)-United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Estimates of National Immunization Coverage published today.
DTP immunization rates often show how successful a country is at providing routine childhood vaccines. Almost 116 million infants (90%) globally received one dose of DTP, and 110 million babies (85%) were fully vaccinated with three shots.
“Both figures rose a full percentage point from the 2024 levels,” Ephrem T. Lemango, MD, associate director for Health and Global Chief of Immunization at UNICEF, said during a press conference.
“It is still not enough. Both DTP numbers, the first and the third dose, are 1% point below where we stood in 2019, and global coverage has been hovering generally within this same narrow range since 2009.”
Measles vaccination still too low
While the report notes an increase in the number of children receiving DTP, 7.3 million of those babies never received their first dose of the measles vaccine. This drop-out makes it difficult to boost the measles vaccination to 95%—what’s needed to stop outbreaks. Worldwide, only 84% of children received one dose of the measles vaccine and 77% received the second. The lagging measles vaccination rates contributed to 57 countries experiencing measles outbreaks last year, including the United States, which is experiencing decades-high numbers.
“For measles, one of the worst and most contagious viruses, the challenge is no longer vaccine introduction. Every country uses the measles vaccine,” Kate O’Brien, MD, MPH, director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals at the WHO, said in the press conference. “The problem here is the failure to get these doses to all children.”
