Overview

• Pandemic lockdowns caused global routine vaccinations to plummet, boosting the number of entirely unvaccinated children to 15.7 million last year.
• Recent outbreaks include over 1,000 measles cases in 30 U.S. states, a tenfold rise in EU measles reports and polio reemergence in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea.
• Economic inequalities mean low-income nations bear the brunt, with half of all unprotected children living in eight sub-Saharan African countries.
• Reduced international aid has hampered vaccination campaigns, prompting Bill Gates to pledge $1.6 billion to Gavi at a Brussels donors’ conference while U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans to halt American funding over vaccine-policy concerns.
• Researchers warn that these setbacks endanger the WHO’s goal to vaccinate 90 percent of children against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and tuberculosis by 2030.