Gavi Vaccine Alliance, a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases, says at least 73 million children were immunised globally in 2025.

The partnership, with the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund as its core members, stated this while analysing the 2025 WUENIC data on the state of immunisation in the 57 low- and lower-middle income countries it supports.

“2025 was a record-setting year for the number of children protected: Lower-income countries immunised 73 million children with Gavi-supported vaccines – more than any other year in history,” the organisation said.

Gavi noted that protection with a critical first vaccine had recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with average coverage of the first dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine (DTP1) increased by 1 percentage point to 88% in 2025 — the same level as in 2019.

According to the organisation, the number of “zero-dose children”, or children that had never received a single dose of vaccine, decreased in lower-income countries by 640,000 in 2025. 

It noted that the decline represented 85% of the global reduction and pushed the overall number of zero-dose children back down nearly to pre-pandemic (2019) levels.

“Children in lower-income countries are now, on average, as protected against a range of diseases as those in the rest of the world: Average coverage across a range of Gavi-supported vaccines – called the “breadth of protection” – is at 65%, for the first time equal to the rest of the world. This number has risen by 16 percentage points since 2019, thanks in large part to new vaccine introductions and scale-ups,” Gavi explained.

Citing notable improvements in some of the most difficult contexts, the organisation identified Sudan as the country with the greatest progress, with DTP3 coverage improving by 32 percentage points in 2025.

It added, “Progress has been achieved despite major immunisation challenges that persist: These achievements are remarkable in the context of both the COVID-19 pandemic which led to severe disruptions, increasing numbers of outbreaks straining health systems, and a rising birth cohort – which means lower-income countries must reach more children each year to simply maintain coverage levels.”

Noting that the challenges ahead underscored the need for sustained investment, the organisation urged countries to prioritise immunisation as one of the most cost-effective investments in health, security and prosperity.