The WHO and UNICEF have warned that widespread misinformation and severe international aid cuts are widening coverage gaps, putting millions of children at risk.

More than 14 million children remained completely unvaccinated in 2024, the UN said on Tuesday.

In Europe and Central Asia, average childhood vaccination rates stagnated or fell by 1%, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF said in a joint report.

Officials warned that widespread misinformation and severe international aid cuts are widening coverage gaps, putting millions of children at risk.

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Preventable diseases rising in Europe

In Europe, cases of whooping cough tripled to nearly 300,000 in 2024, while measles infections doubled to over 125,000, WHO said, amid falling vaccine coverage.

Meanwhile, just nine countries — Nigeria, India, Sudan,  the Democratic Republic of Congo , Ethiopia, Indonesia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Angola — accounted for over half of the world's unvaccinated children.

"Millions of children remain without protection against preventable diseases," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement. "That should worry us all."

Measles cases surge across US

The health report comes at a time when, 25 years after the WHO had declared measles eliminated from the United States, the country is having its worst year for the disease.

The US has now had 1,288 measles cases in 2025 as the vaccine-preventable illness spreads, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week.

According to the UN, vaccines prevent 3.5 million to 5 million deaths a year.

Shakeel Sobhan with AP, AFP, dpa