WHO hails uptick in measles vaccines, still below pre-COVID levels

GENEVA - Measles vaccination rates have improved "remarkably" but remain below pre-COVID-19 levels, the World Health Organization said Friday, flagging obstacles to access for vulnerable populations.

Global measles vaccination coverage reached 84 percent in 2024, up from 83 percent the previous year and 71 percent 25 years ago.

But the figure remains below the 86-percent global coverage before the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO said in a report.

"In 2024 alone, 20.6 million children missed their first dose, more than half in Africa," it added.

Measles requires at least 95-percent global coverage with two doses to interrupt transmission.

"It is serious and can be deadly with children under five, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems at greatest risk of severe complications and death," Kate O'Brien, director of the WHO's Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, told reporters in Geneva.

Althoughglobal coverage for the second dose rose from 17 percent in 2000 to 76 percent in 2024, "immunity gaps have fueled a resurgence of outbreaks, with 59 countries experiencing large or disruptive outbreaks last year - the highest number since 2003", the WHO warned.

"The fact that 25 percent of those outbreaks are happening in countries that have been declared measles-free is a big alarm," said Diana Chang Blanc, a member of the WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization.

Several countries in the Americas suffered measles outbreaks in 2025.

Canada recently lost its measles-free status, the WHO said, and experts believe the United States may be next as it grapples with its worst outbreak in 30 years.

"Every case we see today, every hospitalisation, every community battling an outbreak and every life lost is a reminder of what happens when vaccination coverage declines and when health systems are not able to reach every child," O'Brien said

The organisation put the number of global measles infections in 2024 at 11 million - almost 800,000 higher than pre-COVID levels.

But it highlighted the progress made since 2000, when there were some 38 million recorded cases.