India's Immunisation Milestones and Its Remaining Gaps: Why Some Children Still Miss Their Vaccines
India's vaccination campaigns have achieved major milestones, including the eradication of smallpox and the elimination of polio and maternal and neonatal tetanus.
Despite this, immunisation coverage still varies between states and between communities. Some children get no vaccine at all, and others drop out before completing their doses.
Key reasons include caregiver hesitancy (parents who are unsure about or afraid of vaccines) and barriers faced by migrant families who move often and miss scheduled doses.
Current efforts focus on making vaccines easier to reach and on better digital tracking of every child's doses.
WHO and UNICEF estimates show India's "zero-dose" children (those who did not get even the first dose of the basic DTP vaccine) fell from about 9.09 lakh in 2024 to about 6.79 lakh in 2025.
Awareness and regular follow-up of each child are seen as the keys to closing the remaining gaps.
Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP)
The Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) is the Government of India's free vaccination programme for children and pregnant women. Through it, every newborn can get free vaccines at government health centres against a list of serious diseases. It is one of the largest public health programmes in the world. It is run by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The milestones in this news were achieved through the UIP and its catch-up drives like Mission Indradhanush. The children still "missing their shots" are the gap the UIP is now trying to close, using tools like U-WIN to track migrant families and door-to-door work to reassure hesitant parents.
Pulse Polio Programme and Polio Eradication in India
The Pulse Polio Programme is India's mass campaign to wipe out polio by giving oral polio drops to every child under five years of age, all on the same days across the country. It began in 1995 and is famous for its slogan "Do Boond Zindagi Ki" ("Two drops of life"). Through this campaign and routine vaccination, India went from being one of the worst-hit countries in the world to being free of wild polio. India's last case of wild polio was recorded on 13 January 2011.
The title of this news borrows the Pulse Polio slogan because polio elimination is India's best-known vaccination success. The same lessons (reaching every child, tracking migrants, house-to-house follow-up and building trust with parents) are what experts say India now needs to close the remaining gaps in routine immunisation.
- Zero-dose children in India (WHO-UNICEF estimates): about 16 lakh (2023), 9.09 lakh (2024), 6.79 lakh (2025)
- UIP: free vaccines against 12 diseases; targets about 2.6 crore infants and 2.9 crore pregnant women a year
- UIP started in 1985 (Expanded Programme on Immunisation began in 1978)
- Mission Indradhanush launched 25 December 2014
- U-WIN: digital vaccination record for pregnant women and children from birth to 17 years
- Polio: last wild case 13 January 2011; WHO certification of South-East Asia Region 27 March 2014
- Maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination: 2015
- Smallpox declared eradicated worldwide: 1980