India among eight countries with half of world's unvaccinated children as of 2023: Study
New Delhi, Jun 25 (PTI): India was among the eight countries where more than half the unvaccinated children from around the world lived as of 2023, an analysis published in The Lancet journal showed, "emphasising persistent inequities."
Providing global estimates of current vaccine coverage, the study found that the same year, there were 15.7 million children -- 1.44 million in India -- who had received no doses of the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine in their first year.
An international team of researchers forming the 'Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 Vaccine Coverage Collaborators' updated global, regional, and national estimates of routine childhood vaccine coverage from 1980 to 2023 for 204 countries and territories.
In 1980, 53.5 per cent of children who had never received a routine childhood vaccine, or 'zero-dose' children, lived in just five countries -- India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh --, they said.
Routine childhood vaccinations are among the most powerful and cost-effective public health interventions available, said senior author Dr Jonathan Mosser from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington, US, which co-ordinates the GBD study.
"Despite the monumental efforts of the past 50 years, progress has been far from universal. Large numbers of children remain under- and un-vaccinated," Dr Mosser said.
Persistent global inequalities, challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and growth of vaccine misinformation and hesitancy have all contributed to faltering immunisation progress. The trends increase the risk of outbreaks that can be prevented through vaccinations, including measles, polio, and diphtheria, the senior author added.
The study highlights "the critical need for targeted improvements to ensure that all children can benefit from lifesaving immunisations," Dr Mosser said.
The team analysed data pertaining to 11 vaccine-dose combinations recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for all children globally.
Between 1980 and 2023, vaccine coverage was found to have doubled the world over against diseases, such as diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough (pertussis), measles, polio, and tuberculosis.
Children who had never received a routine childhood vaccine -- zero-dose children -- further fell by 75 per cent fall, "from 58.8 million in 1980 to 14.7 million in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic", the researchers said.
However, progress has stalled or reversed since 2010 in many countries.
Measles vaccination rates fell in 100 of 204 countries between 2010 and 2019, while 21 of 36 high-income countries experienced declines in coverage for at least one vaccine dose against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, polio, or tuberculosis, the researchers said.
They added that an "accelerated progress" would be needed to achieve the 2030 target of halving the number of zero-dose children, compared to 2019 levels, with only 18 of 204 countries and territories estimated to have already met this target as of 2023.
Two-thirds (65 per cent) of the children never having received a vaccine dose but would need to be vaccinated between 2023 and 2030 live in sub-Saharan Africa (4.28 million) and South Asia (1.33 million), the team said.
"As of 2023, more than 50 per cent of the 15.7 million global zero-dose children resided in just eight countries (Nigeria, India, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Indonesia, and Brazil), emphasising persistent inequities," the authors wrote.
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Karnataka MLA Vinay Kulkarni disqualified after conviction in Goudar murder case
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Saturday issued an official notification regarding the disqualification of Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni following his conviction in the murder case of BJP leader Yogeshgouda Goudar.
The former minister is currently in prison, serving life imprisonment in the case.
“Consequent upon the conviction of Vinay Kulkarni, Member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly representing the Dharwad constituency, by the LXXXI Additional City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bengaluru City (CCH-82), in Spl CC No. 565/2021, he stands disqualified from the membership of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from the date of conviction, i.e, April 15, 2026,” the notification read.
“He stands disqualified in terms of the provisions of Article 191(1)(e) of the Constitution of India, read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and such disqualification shall continue for a further period of six years after his release, unless the conviction is stayed by a competent court,” it added.
Hence, one seat in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly has fallen vacant, the notification said.
Bypolls were held on April 9 to fill two other seats in the 224-member Assembly that fell vacant due to the death of sitting MLAs. The results will be declared on May 4.
On April 15, Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat convicted Kulkarni and others under various IPC sections, including criminal conspiracy and murder. Subsequently, on April 17, the court sentenced Kulkarni and 15 others convicted in the case to life imprisonment.
The case pertains to the killing of Goudar, a BJP Zilla Panchayat member, in Dharwad on June 15, 2016. Kulkarni was a minister at that time. Hired assailants attacked and hacked Goudar to death in his gym at Saptapur in Dharwad.
Following demands from Goudar’s family and others, the then-BJP government transferred the case to the CBI in 2019.
The CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet in 2020, naming Vinay Kulkarni as the “main conspirator.” It alleged that he perceived Yogeshgouda Goudar as a growing political rival in Dharwad and hired contract killers to eliminate him.
Kulkarni was arrested by the CBI in 2020. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in August 2021 under certain conditions, including a ban on entering Dharwad district. However, in June 2025, the apex court cancelled his bail following allegations of witness tampering and attempts to influence prosecution witnesses.
Kulkarni again sought bail in January 2026, but the High Court rejected it, citing judicial propriety.
However, the Supreme Court granted him bail on February 27 after noting that all witnesses had been examined.
