03 September 2024

Nearly one million children and pregnant women in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to receive life-saving routine vaccines

BANGKOK, 3 September 2024, – More than 800,000 children and 120,000 pregnant women will be vaccinated in a nationwide campaign launched on Monday by the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with UNICEF support. The vaccination campaign will reach children and pregnant women in all 210 counties who have missed out on life-saving vaccines since the…
19 July 2023

Childhood immunization begins recovery after COVID-19 backslide

GENEVA/NEW YORK,, 18 July 2023, – Global immunization services reached 4 million more children in 2022 compared to the previous year, as countries stepped up efforts to address the historic backsliding in immunization caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data published today by the World Health Organizati...
27 April 2023

Statement by UNICEF Representative to China - World Immunization Week

BEIJING, 27 April 2023 —, “As we come to the end of this year’s World Immunization week on 30 April, UNICEF calls for collective and concerted efforts to catch up on children who missed out on being vaccinated during the pandemic, rebuild systems, and tackle major gaps in health systems. “Globally, we see signs in many countries of declines in vaccine confidence. According…
20 April 2023

THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S CHILDREN 2023 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The world is facing a red alert for children’s health: Vaccination coverage dropped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving millions more children unprotected against some of childhood's most serious diseases. In addition, many millions of children from some of the world's most marginalized communities have ...
19 April 2023

New data indicates declining confidence in childhood vaccines of up to 44 percentage points in some countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

NEW YORK, , 20 April 2023 –, The public, perception of the importance of vaccines for children declined during the COVID-19 pandemic in 52 out of 55 countries studied, UNICEF warned today in a new report on immunization. The State of the World’s Children 2023: For Every Child, Vaccination reveals the perception of...
24 April 2022

World Immunization Week: UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Liam Neeson headlines week-long commemoration of global vaccination efforts and calls for greater investment

Videos available to, download here, NEW YORK, 24 April 2022, – UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Liam Neeson is leading UNICEF’s global immunization initiative with a global message thanking the scientists, parents, health workers and others who have been so critical in helping to immunize children over the last two deca...
25 February 2021

UNICEF begins shipping syringes for the global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines under COVAX

NEW YORK, 23 February 2021, , –, UNICEF has sent 100,000 syringes and 1,000 safety boxes for COVID-19 vaccinations to the Maldives by air freight from UNICEF’s humanitarian warehouse in Dubai—part of the first wave of COVID-19-related syringe shipments to begin rolling out in the coming days. Others in the first ...
24 December 2020

UNICEF outlining plans to transport up to 850 tonnes of COVID-19 vaccines per month on behalf of COVAX, in ‘mammoth and historic’ logistics operation

NEW YORK, 18 December 2020, –, UNICEF could potentially transport up to 850 tonnes of COVID-19 vaccines per month in 2021, should such quantities become available, according to a new assessment. This is more than double the average weight of vaccines UNICEF transports every month. The assessment is part of UNICEF’...
15 December 2020

Teachers should be prioritized for vaccination against COVID-19

NEW YORK, 15 December 2020 –, “The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on children’s education around the globe. Vaccinating teachers is a critical step towards putting it back on track. “At their peak in late April 2020, nationwide school closures disrupted the learning of almost 90 per cent of students worldwide. While that number has dropped since, there continues to be…
10 November 2020

UNICEF and WHO call for emergency action to avert major measles and polio epidemics

GENEVA/ NEW YORK, 6 November 2020 –, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) today issued an urgent call to action to avert major measles and polio epidemics as COVID-19 continues to disrupt immunization services worldwide, leaving millions of vulnerable children at heightened risk of preventable childhood ...
17 July 2020

WHO and UNICEF warn of a decline in vaccinations during COVID-19

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 15 July 2020, – The World Health Organization and UNICEF warned today of an alarming decline in the number of children receiving life-saving vaccines around the world. This is due to disruptions in the delivery and uptake of immunization services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to new d...
27 April 2020

Vaccinations and COVID-19: What parents need to know

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought with it fear and uncertainty. Many parents are asking about when there will be a COVID-19 vaccine and what to do about routine childhood vaccinations during the pandemic. We're here to provide answers to your most common questions. When will the vacci...