Report: Pacific island countries struggle to meet vaccination targets

By Jayvee Vallejera

Despite their smaller populations, most Pacific countries are struggling to meet the 90-percent goal of vaccinating their children against deadly but preventable diseases, according to a joint World Health Organization-UNICEF report released Wednesday.

Only Niue had 100 percent vaccination coverage based on the national immunization schedule, followed by Tuvalu at 93 percent, according to the annual WHO-UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage.

Other high-performing Pacific countries include Tuvalu, Cook Islands and Tonga, but even these countries failed to meet or exceed the target for one or two vaccine types in 2025.

Tuvalu met or exceeded the 90 percent threshold for 13 types of vaccines, except for the final dose of the human papillomavirus vaccine (78 percent) for girls.

The Cook Islands had stellar numbers for 12 vaccine types in 2025, except for the final dose of the polio vaccine and the human papillomavirus vaccine. Tonga also missed the 90-percent goal on two vaccine types.

Palau met the 90-percent goal for 10 vaccine types but only had 75 percent coverage for the final dose of the measles vaccine. That means a large number of children in Palau were only partially inoculated against measles in 2025.

Kiribati managed to hit only four of its targets in 2025. The Marshall Islands, Nauru and Samoa met three vaccination targets.

Both the Federated States of Micronesia and Vanuatu met two targets, but failed to meet the target for 12 types of vaccines.

At the lowest end of the spectrum were the Solomon Islands, which met only one target in 2025, and Papua New Guinea, which missed all targets.

The 90-percent goal is part of WHO’s Immunization Agenda 2030, a global strategy “to leave no one behind” by extending the benefits of vaccination to everyone, everywhere, at any age. It is designed to save over 50 million lives in the next decade.

Although Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa fall within the ambit of WHO’s Western Pacific Region, their immunization numbers are not included in the report due to their status as U.S. territories.

The dismal performance of several Pacific countries stands in sharper contrast to that of other countries within WHO’s Western Pacific Region.

The Philippines, China, Indonesia and Japan saw their vaccination numbers decline in 2025, leaving the region furthest below pre-Covid levels, according to the report.

This contrasts with the Americas and Southeast Asia, which have fully recovered and improved their performance.

The Southeast Asia Region, comprising 10 countries, including North Korea, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand, is now considered the highest-performing region, according to the report.

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Countries in Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Europe saw gains last year, the report said, but their coverage remains below pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels.

In its overview for the Western Pacific, the report noted there were 28,000 more children in 2025 who have not received any vaccinations, also known as "zero-dose" children, compared to 2024.

This leaves 1.7 million children without vaccination, vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases, and a further 360,000 with only partial protection, the report said.

Indonesia and the Philippines accounted for over half (62.7 percent) of all zero-dose children.

Based on the absolute number of zero-dose children, the top-rankers are Indonesia (657,000) and the Philippines (381,000).

Papua New Guinea ranks fourth, with 128,000 children who have not received a single vaccine, while the Solomon Islands ranks 13th, with 2,000 zero-dose children.

Other Pacific nations show proportionately smaller numbers of zero-dose children.

Fiji has fewer than 1,000, Vanuatu has fewer than 500, the Federated States of Micronesia has fewer than 200, and Kiribati, Tonga, Samoa, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, Cook Islands and Niue all have fewer than 100 each.

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