More than 14 million children in 2024, the UN said on Tuesday.
In Europe and Central Asia, average childhood vaccination rates stagnated or fell by 1%, the and UNICEF said in a joint report.Officials warned that widespread misinformation and severe international aid cuts are widening coverage gaps, putting millions of .
Cases of preventable diseases rising in Europe
In Europe, cases of whooping cough tripled to nearly 300,000 in 2024, while to over 125,000, WHO said, amid falling vaccine coverage.
Meanwhile, just nine countries — Nigeria, India, Sudan, Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Angola — accounted for over half of the world’s unvaccinated children.
“Millions of children remain without protection against preventable diseases,” UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a statement. “That should worry us all.”
Measles cases soaring in US
The health report comes at a time when, 25 years after the WHO had declared measles eliminated from the US, the country is having its .
The US has now had 1,288 measles cases in 2025 as the vaccine-preventable illness spreads, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week.
According to the UN, 3.5 million to 5 million deaths a year.
Edited by: John Silk
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