Particle.news
Download on the App Store
8 ARTICLES
·
3w ago

Global Childhood Vaccination Plateau Puts Millions at Risk as Measles Resurges

Misinformation campaigns combined with budget cuts have pushed immunization rates below pre-pandemic levels.

FILE - A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child in Karachi, Pakistan, Jan. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan, File)
Between 2010 and 2019, there were declines in at least one kind of vaccination in 21 of 36 high-income countries measured in a new study.
More than half of the world's completely unvaccinated children live in just eight countries, research finds

Overview

  • Vaccination coverage has stagnated since 2010, resulting in 15.7 million zero-dose children globally in 2023.
  • The U.S. is approaching its highest measles case tally since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, and Europe recorded a tenfold rise in 2024.
  • Over half of unvaccinated children are concentrated in Nigeria, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Indonesia and Brazil.
  • The World Health Organization has identified vaccine misinformation as a leading global health threat after false narratives eroded public trust.
  • President Trump’s proposed budget cuts to Gavi and the CDC’s global health unit, coupled with vaccine-skeptical HHS appointments, have undermined U.S. immunization efforts.