Decline in childhood immunization in Latin America & the Caribbean is due to natural disasters, violence, urbanization, instability & migration, & UNICEF asks governments to identify & vaccinate all children

​In the last ten years, Latin America and the Caribbean have gone from having one of the highest rates of childhood vaccination in the world to one of the lowest. This is due to the drop in coverage of the third dose of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine (DTP3) among children under one, from 93% in 2012 to 75% in 2021.
 
This is the region’s lowest routine immunization rate in almost 30 years, placing Latin America and the Caribbean below the global average (81%) and just ahead of Eastern and Southern Africa (74%). According to the latest World Health Organization and UNICEF estimates, Latin America & the Caribbean’s backslide in immunization has left 2.4 million children – one in four children under the age of one – unprotected from vaccine-preventable diseases. Children in the poorest families are almost three times as likely to be zero-dose as children in the wealthiest families.
 
This is one of the most serious childhood immunization crises the region has seen in almost 30 years, as diseases like diphtheria, measles and polio. The decline in childhood immunization in Latin America and the Caribbean is due to multiple factors, including natural disasters, violence, urbanization, instability, and migration.
 
Uneven public spending in health across the region and reduced investment in some countries have left the most marginalized communities cut off from quality primary health care. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these challenges, interrupting childhood vaccination due to intense demands on health systems and stay-at-home measures. UNICEF calls on governments and partners to urgently identify and vaccinate all children, prioritize funding for immunization services and primary health care, build resilient health systems through investment in health workers, innovation and manufacturing of vaccine supplies in the region, & strengthen demand for vaccines, including by building confidence.