India Ranks Second In Zero-Dose Children As Global Vaccine Efforts Slow: Lancet

India is facing a major public health challenge, with 1.44 million children remaining unvaccinated in 2023, according to a new study published in The Lancet.

These “zero-dose” children—those who haven’t received even a single vaccine—highlight a broader stagnation in global immunisation progress.

The study, by the Global Burden of Disease Vaccine Coverage Collaborators, warns that millions of children in India and across South Asia are still at risk of dying from preventable diseases.

In 2023, about 15.7 million children globally had not received even one dose of the DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) vaccine in their first year. India accounts for a large share of this number, second only to Nigeria.

The report also found measles vaccination rates fell in 100 of 204 countries between 2010 and 2019.

Over half of all zero-dose children are concentrated in eight countries. The COVID-19 pandemic deepened the crisis, with 15.6 million children missing essential DTP or measles vaccines between 2020 and 2023.