Despite decades of improvement, childhood vaccination rates across the European Union have recently declined in multiple countries, risking outbreaks and undermining herd immunity amid uneven progress and pandemic-related setbacks.
Childhood vaccination rates across the European Union have risen markedly over the past four decades, but a new analysis suggests that progress has stalled and, in some countries, reversed. Researchers examining seven routine paediatric vaccines , including those protecting against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, meningitis B, polio, measles and rubella , found that the bloc reached historically high coverage overall, but with wide gaps between member states.
According to the study, published in The Lancet Regional Health-Europe and based on World Health Organisation and UNICEF data from 1980 to 2024, Luxembourg and Portugal reached at least 95% coverage for all seven vaccines in 2024. Romania, by contrast, remained below 80%, underscoring how uneven uptake remains across the union. OECD data published in 2024 also showed Romania among the EU’s weakest performers for measles vaccination, with coverage below the level needed for population-wide protection.
The researchers said the more worrying trend was recent and broad-based. They found declines in 16 EU countries for at least four of the seven vaccines studied, with Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland, the Netherlands, Romania and Sweden recording falls across all seven. Germany and Spain saw drops in five vaccines, while France and Italy showed a mixed pattern of gains and losses. The steepest recent declines were seen in vaccines against meningitis B, polio and hepatitis B, while measles and rubella appeared relatively less affected.
The falls largely began between 2019 and 2022, a period that overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors said the public health emergency may have played a part, but stressed that their study was not designed to isolate the causes. In a separate WHO and UNICEF update in July 2025, vaccination rates in Europe and Central Asia were still below pre-pandemic levels in 2024, with measles and diphtheria-pertussis coverage also slipping. The researchers warned that lower uptake raises the risk of outbreaks and weakens both individual and herd immunity, calling for action at international, national and community level to restore trust and protect children from preventable disease.
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