The Crime Desk: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), and the World Health Organization (WHO) have expressed concern that nearly 5 lakh children in Bangladesh are still not receiving all doses of vaccines on time. At the beginning of World Immunization Week 2025, the three organizations warned that although Bangladesh has made great progress in increasing the vaccination rate of children (81.6 percent of children are under vaccination), there is still a significant gap. There are serious concerns about the condition of nearly 5 lakh children.
This information was given in a press release sent to the media yesterday, Monday. Despite significant progress in the country’s Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), about 400,000 children have not received all the vaccines properly, and 70,000 (1.5 percent) children have not been vaccinated at all. The rate of non-vaccination is higher in urban areas, with only 79 percent fully vaccinated, 2.4 percent not receiving even one dose of vaccine, and 9.8 percent not receiving all the doses of vaccine properly; in contrast, 85 percent of children in rural areas have received all doses of the vaccine.
UNICEF, WHO, and Gavi are calling on the government of Bangladesh to ensure a robust and sustainable national immunization program with increased manpower and adequate allocation, prioritizing urban vaccination gaps, ensuring vaccine delivery systems, scaling up HPV vaccination, and scaling up digital innovations for better monitoring and outreach. These steps will pave the way for achieving the target of over 95 percent vaccination coverage across the country, leaving no child behind. On this World Immunization Week, Gavi, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization reiterate their commitment to supporting the Government of Bangladesh to ensure a healthier, more prosperous future by protecting every child from vaccine-preventable diseases.
In Bangladesh, EPI currently saves an estimated 94,000 lives and prevents the illness of 5 million children each year, with a return of $25 for every $1 invested.
