Marcia Thereza Couto

Vaccine uptake has been declining in Brazil and South Africa over the last decade. This decline has reversed important gains in protecting children against vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, polio, diphtheria and whooping cough. Both countries have well-established, universal and free childhood immunisation programmes. In Brazil, coverage has dropped 10-20 percentage points since 2016 and remains below the 95% target for several routine vaccines.