Gist: A data released by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reveals that UNICEF is the largest buyer of vaccines for children in the world, yet millions of children in India and also around the world miss out on full vaccinations every year. The UNICEF procured 2.5 billion doses of vaccines as the lead procurement agency in 2016 and provided vaccinations to children in nearly 100 countries, reaching almost half of the world’s children under the age of five. Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, the three remaining polio-endemic countries, received more doses of vaccines than any other country, with almost 450 million doses of vaccines procured for children in Nigeria, 395 million in Pakistan and over 150 million in Afghanistan. According to the UNICEF, access to immunization has led to a dramatic decrease in deaths of children under five years from vaccine-preventable diseases. Between 2000 and 2015, globally deaths of under-fives due to measles declined by 85 per cent and those due to neonatal tetanus by 83 per cent. An estimated 10 million children in India still miss out on full vaccinations every year. “UNICEF is committed to working together with the Government of India and other development partners, to ensure that we close the immunity gaps in every state, in every district and in every community, so that all boys and girls are protected life-long from measles, rubella, and other vaccine preventable diseases,” said Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF India Representative, who addressed the event.