New Delhi, June 28: Even as the latest Lancet paper marked India among eight countries with a high burden of zero-dose children, those who had never received a routine childhood vaccine, the Union government on Saturday said that the country’s large population size, and high vaccination coverage rate must be considered when making such comparisons.
The government noted that “India’s antigen-wise immunisation coverage surpasses global averages across all antigens”. In other words, the vaccination strategy deployed in India is targeted against antigens, which can trigger an immune response resisting pathogens (like a virus or bacteria).
The global study, led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, US, showed that in 2023, more than half of the world’s 15.7 million unvaccinated children were living in just eight countries.
These were primarily in sub-Saharan Africa (53 per cent) and South Asia (13 per cent): Nigeria, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Indonesia, and Brazil. The government stated that with continued, sustained efforts and intensified implementation of vaccination drives and campaigns across the country, the percentage of zero-dose children in India has actually declined to 0.06 per cent in 2024 from 0.11 per cent in 2023.
The numbers, which positioned India as a global exemplar in child health, have also been acknowledged by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation in its 2024 report, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
Further, citing the WUNEIC report 2023, the Ministry explained that the national coverage for Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) — DTP1 and DTP3 — ranks among the highest compared to other countries with the largest number of zero-dose children. According to WUENIC 2023, India, with a high population size and socio-geographical diversity, National DTP-1 (Penta-1) has a coverage of 93 per cent, which is 2.47 crore out of 2.65 crore infants have been vaccinated, even though during the equivalent period, which is significantly higher than Nigeria’s 70 per cent.
There is a commensurate decrease in dropout percentage from DTP-1 to DTP-3, from 7 per cent in 2013 to 2 per cent in 2023, and an increase in coverage of Measles from 83 per cent in 2013 to 93 per cent in 2023. The comparative results of countries on zero dose children as a percentage of the total population shows that Yemen (1.68 per cent), Sudan (1.45 per cent), Angola (1.1 per cent), Afghanistan (1.1 per cent), Nigeria (0.98 per cent), DR Congo (0.82 per cent), Ethiopia (0.72 per cent), Indonesia (0.23 per cent), Pakistan (0.16 per cent) have far more zero dose children as a percentage of their population compared to India’s 0.11 per cent during 2023 as per the last Wuneic report released.
Thus, “any comparison of India with any other countries with high burden zero dose children needs to take into consideration India’s large population size and high vaccination coverage rate,” the Ministry said.
“Therefore, any interpretation or analysis based on isolated factors does not lend credence to the country’s progress on its immunisation programme,” it added. The Ministry said that India’s unwavering commitment to immunisation is evident in its elimination of polio in 2014 and maternal and neonatal tetanus in 2015, and the roll-out of the measles-rubella campaign in 2025.
IANS