India, Aug. 3 -- Most parents in India follow the vaccination schedule because it's part of growing up. But beyond that routine lies a worrying trend. Global childhood immunisation, which once saw steady progress, is now slowing, and millions of children remain vulnerable to diseases we thought were under control. According to a 2025 update by the WHO and Unicef, 14.3 million infants worldwide received no vaccines at all last year, while another 20 million missed at least one critical dose of the DTP vaccine, which protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis.

In clinical practice, this is more than data-it's visible in children who arrive with infections that could have been avoided, and in communities dealing with outbreaks that...