Vaccinating Every Child

If childhood vaccination is not prioritized, many kids can miss out on their right to be vaccinated, which could cost them their lives.

Vaccines save children's lives by protecting them from infectious diseases. In 2016, around 1.4 million children under the age of five died from vaccine-preventable diseases. Pneumonia, diarrhea, and measles accounted for nearly a quarter of all deaths in children under five. Unfortunately, they could have been easily prevented with vaccines.

Around 19 million children, approximately one in every seven children, do not receive all basic vaccines. Thirteen million of these children have not been vaccinated at all, endangering their lives and the lives of those around them. Low vaccination rates can jeopardize the amazing advances made in healthcare, especially for children and their mothers. While the poorest and most vulnerable children need vaccines the most, they are the least likely to receive them.

UNICEF works with its partners to protect every child. However, if childhood vaccination is not prioritized, many kids can miss out on their right to be vaccinated, which could cost them their lives.

Despite these challenges, vaccines are saving the lives of more children than ever before. This unprecedented success is due to the efforts of healthcare workers who put their fears and doubts aside and travel from village to village to vaccinate children.

"Last year alone, vaccines saved the lives of more than three million children. Those three million future doctors, teachers, artists, community leaders, mothers, and fathers are alive today thanks to the millions of frontline healthcare workers who travel hundreds of miles to reach every child, even those living in the most remote areas," UNICEF Chief of Immunization Dr. Robin Nandy said. "We continue to work with governments—even in conflict zones—to support those who carry out this extremely dangerous work to save lives."

Six basic facts about vaccines

1. 350,000 cases of polio were reported around the world in 1988. About 2.5 billion children have been vaccinated against the virus since. Today, the world is closer to eradicating polio than ever before. Last year, only 22 cases of the disease were registered in two countries. This year, more than 400 million children will be vaccinated against this disease.

2. About 20 million children’s lives have been saved thanks to measles vaccinations between 2000 and 2016.

3. In 2017, UNICEF purchased 2.4 billion doses of vaccines (worth $1.13 billion) to vaccinate 45 percent of children around the world.

4. Vaccination has eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus in all but 15 countries. In 2017, the disease was eradicated in Ethiopia, Haiti, and the Philippines.

5. Two-thirds of children who have not been vaccinated live in vulnerable countries or conflict zones. Syria has the lowest rates of unvaccinated children. There, vaccinations decreased by 38 percent between 2000 and 2016. The second-largest decline—a decrease of 33 percent—was registered in Ukraine.

6. Half of all unvaccinated children live in the following six countries: Nigeria (18 percent), India (15 percent); Pakistan (7 percent); Indonesia (5 percent), Ethiopia (4 percent), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3 percent).