Estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on national immunization coverage, which provide the world’s largest and most comprehensive dataset on immunization trends against 14 diseases, highlight the need for continued efforts to update, catch-up and strengthen systems.

“The latest trends show that in many countries too many children have not been vaccinated,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said.

According to the findings, the number of children who received three doses of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine in 2023, a key marker of global immunization coverage, remained stable at 84 percent (108 million).

However, the young children who did not receive a single dose of the vaccine increased from 13.9 million in 2022 to 14.5 million in 2023.

More than half of the unvaccinated children live in all 31 countries with fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable settings, where young children are especially vulnerable to preventable diseases due to shocks and lack of access to security, nutrition and health services.

Another 6.5 million infants did not complete their third dose of DTP vaccine, which is needed to achieve protection against disease during infancy and early childhood.

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