Several recent publications provide journalists with key data and context for reporting on vaccination and infectious diseases for local, national and international audiences.
The three most important recent publications are the July 15 World Health Organization/UNICEF estimates of national immunization coverage, the July 31 CDC SchoolVaxView report on “Vaccination Coverage and Exemptions among Kindergartners,” and the July 31 report from the Vaccine Integrity Project, a new initiative at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) that grew out of concerns about the direction of national vaccination policy under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s leadership.
WHO/UNICEF estimates of national immunization
The WHO and UNICEF release their estimates of national immunization coverage globally once each year. The report is very helpful in understanding progress being made in catching children up on essential, recommended vaccines since the pandemic — when global rates of all childhood immunizations fell — and on specific public health goals, such as polio eradication. Assets from the WHO press conference on the report can be found here.
Some of the key takeaways highlighted in this year’s report include Gavi surpassing its goal of protecting 1.1 billion children by 2025, an average eight-point improvement in vaccination rates for all Gavi vaccines, and sustained or improved coverage of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis-containing vaccine in 70% of lower-income countries. And the number of zero-dose children — those who have not received any recommended vaccines — fell by half a million. The key takeaways also include challenges that offer enterprise story ideas for journalists covering global public health or seeking information on specific countries’ vaccination progress.
Here are additional resources:
- Gavi factsheet.
- Global dashboard of vaccine-preventable disease cases and individual vaccines’ coverage.
- Individual country profiles for vaccination coverage.
- UNICEF immunization regional snapshots for 2024.
- UNICEF’s complete data sets for different vaccines.
- UNICEF data visualizations for global immunization trends.
- UNICEF regional data visualizations.
- UNICEF immunization country profiles.
The Immunization Dashboard page also includes these helpful resources:
- Instructions on using the portal.
- Polio case count data.
- An international HPV vaccination dashboard.
- An international malaria vaccination dashboard.
- Resources for Surveillance for Vaccine Preventable Diseases.
- Recommended vaccination schedules (WHO).
- Data on introduction of individual vaccines across the globe.
Kindergarten immunization rates and coverage
The CDC released its annual report on Vaccination Coverage and Exemptions among Kindergartners, a key data resource for determining how many entering school children have received each of the vaccines recommended by the CDC and the AAP. The report showed a decrease in measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) and diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) vaccines, both of which are strong indicators of a child’s up-to-date status on all vaccines.
The DTaP rate was 92.1% and the MMR rate was 92.5%, both below the 94-95% that used to be typical before the COVID-19 pandemic. Coverage of MMR, DTaP, chickenpox and polio vaccines all decreased in over half of U.S. states. Meanwhile, exemptions for vaccines increased slightly, from 3.3% to 3.6%, but this rate is still considerably higher overall than it was just a decade ago.
Reporters can see rates for individual vaccines, states, and school years at the interactive SchoolVaxView.
The findings come just two weeks after publication of a research letter in JAMA Network Open that assessed the vaccination intentions of pregnant parents. Many parents make decisions about vaccination before their child is born, so it’s an area of interest to researchers since it provides an opportunity for intervention and education. That particular study reported findings from a survey of 174 pregnant participants and 1,765 non-pregnant parents. Only 4% of those pregnant with their first child intended to refuse some or all vaccines, compared to 33% of the non-pregnant parents, but those pregnant with their first child had the highest levels of uncertainty about childhood vaccination (48%), compared to 4% of parents of young children.
In a comment released by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Susan J. Kressly, M.D., the AAP president, noted that fewer kindergarteners were fully immunized during the 2024-2025 school year against multiple key diseases, including polio, measles and pertussis.
“The good news is the vast majority of parents vaccinate their children,” Kressly said. “At this moment when preventable diseases are on the rise, we need clear, effective communication from government leaders recommending immunizations as the best way to ensure children’s immune systems are prepared to fight dangerous diseases.”
Vaccine Integrity Project report
The Vaccine Integrity Project, run by CIDRAP director Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., MPH, lists its objective as “safeguarding vaccine use in the U.S. so that it remains grounded in the best available science, free from external influence, and focused on optimizing protection of individuals, families and communities against vaccine-preventable diseases.” This July 2025 Q&A with Osterholm at an American Public Health Association publication provides a good overview of the project’s genesis and focus and may provide useful resources to journalists reporting on vaccines.
The project was started specifically to counter the misinformation and disinformation perpetuated by Kennedy before he became HHS secretary and the alarming, non-science-based changes that have been made under his leadership, such as the dismissal of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The project issued an interim report in June, but the final report from July is much more comprehensive. It includes a timeline of events that have occurred within HHS since March related to vaccines, stakeholder insights collected since forming, gaps in existing vaccine infrastructure in the U.S. and recommendations for retaining evidence-based vaccine policy throughout the U.S. despite changes occurring at the CDC, NIH and HHS.
The recommendations may inspire story ideas for reporters investigating what their state should be doing to continue evidence-based vaccine policy and where gaps in their state plans may be. It could also come in handy in reporting on new findings, such as the recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that found 46% of underserved adults were not up to date on their recommended vaccines; nearly half had not heard of at least one CDC-recommended vaccine.
