‘Breaks my heart’: Yemen jab shortages spark fears for millions of children
A vaccine supply crisis in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen has left approximately five million children without access to routine immunizations following UNICEF's withdrawal of operations in October 2025. The disruption has forced families to travel long distances at significant cost to access vaccinations, exposing deep fractures between rival health authorities over responsibility for the shortage.
Why It Matters
Yemen's healthcare system was already fragile before this crisis, with only 59.3 percent of health facilities fully functional as of March 2026. The vaccination gap poses a serious public health risk to millions of children in a conflict-affected population already struggling with limited access to medical services.
Key Facts
- Children affected: Approximately 5 million children in Houthi-controlled areas lack access to routine vaccines
- Last vaccine shipment: September 4, 2025, according to Sanaa's Health Ministry
- UNICEF operations halt: October 2025, following detention of UN staff and raids on premises
- Travel cost for vaccination: About $100 per family—prohibitive in impoverished Yemen
- Vaccination coverage nationally: 63 percent as of March 2026, likely significantly lower after July supply exhaustion
Yemen's vaccine crisis has intensified following the breakdown of humanitarian operations in areas controlled by the Houthi movement, leaving millions of children vulnerable to preventable diseases. The shortage traces back to October 2025, when UNICEF suspended its work in Houthi-held territory after dozens of UN personnel were detained and organizational assets seized. Since then, the final vaccine shipment reached Sanaa in early September 2025, and by late July 2026, officials confirmed that nearly all routine childhood immunizations had been exhausted across Houthi-controlled regions.
Families caught in the shortage face impossible choices. Mirsal Adel, a father in Ibb, traveled 47 miles to the government-held city of Taiz to secure vaccinations for his infant son—a journey that cost him $100, an enormous sum in Yemen's impoverished economy where many families lack such resources. What once was routine, with vaccination teams visiting homes door-to-door, has become a logistical and financial burden that keeps many children unprotected.
Blame for the crisis is heavily disputed between rival authorities. The Houthi-controlled Health Ministry in Sanaa accuses UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, of politicizing humanitarian aid and abandoning the region after relocating operations to government-held Aden. Officials also point to Saudi Arabia's blockade as preventing independent vaccine imports. The government-controlled Health Ministry in Aden, meanwhile, claims to have sufficient vaccines available but asserts that Houthi-imposed restrictions prevent their transport and distribution to areas under Houthi control.
Neither UNICEF nor Gavi provided substantive responses to these allegations, with UNICEF only stating it continues efforts to help children access vaccines. The UN has demanded the release of detained personnel and return of seized assets, but progress remains unclear. Meanwhile, vaccination coverage across Yemen, already at just 63 percent nationally in March, has almost certainly declined further as the supply crisis deepened through mid-2026, leaving a generation of children vulnerable to diseases that routine immunization could prevent.
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