IRC, through Gavi’s ZIP program, Surpass 30 Million Vaccine Doses, Reaching Over 1 Million Zero-Dose Children in Crisis Settings

New York, NY , April 23, 2026 - Marking World Immunization Week 2026, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) announced that, together with partners in the Gavi-funded REACH consortium, it has delivered more than 30 million life-saving vaccine doses in some of the world's most fragile and conflict-affected settings-reaching over 1 million zero-dose children who had never received a single vaccine.

Since 2022, REACH (Reaching Every Child in Humanitarian Settings) has operated across six countries- Chad, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia- and in areas rendered inaccessible by conflict and disaster, delivering both routine immunization and catch-up vaccination for children who have missed years of coverage. The program has reached communities in areas facing significant access constraints for national immunisation services, working through local partners, context-appropriate service delivery models, and sustained humanitarian access.

​​"Immunization has expanded dramatically worldwide, yet in fragile and conflict-affected settings, where a child lives can still determine whether they receive life-saving vaccines," said Thabani Maphosa, Chief Country Delivery Officer at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. "Reaching the most underserved communities is how we sustain progress and prevent outbreaks, and partnerships such as REACH show what's possible when vaccine delivery is adapted to the realities children in complex and access-constrained environments face."

The milestone highlights both the scale of global immunization inequality and what is possible when delivery models are designed for crisis contexts. Nearly 20 million children around the world are un- or undervaccinated, including over 14 million "zero dose," children, half of which live in fragile and conflict-affected countries while routine immunization coverage runs far below the global average. Children in these settings are three times more likely to die than their counterparts in stable countries. Immunization is one of the most direct interventions available to close that gap; REACH shows they can be delivered there, at scale, and at cost.

"REACH is a replicable, scalable model for delivering immunization where the needs- and the challenges to delivery- are greatest," said Mesfin Teklu Tessema, Senior Director of the Health Unit at the IRC. "When REACH launched in 2022, only 16% of its target communities were accessible to humanitarian actors. Today, that figure is 100%-a transformation driven by sustained community engagement and negotiated humanitarian access. The real test of global health systems is whether they will commit, fund, and deliver for those left furthest behind. REACH shows that they can.

"At a time of unprecedented contraction in the global aid system, we need approaches that are both scalable and cost-effective. Transformative interventions like REACH do exactly that: they save lives locally by reaching zero-dose children who would otherwise be missed, and protect lives globally by reducing the risk of outbreaks that do not respect borders."

REACH has also demonstrated that delivery in humanitarian settings can be both high-impact and cost-effective, with an average cost of delivery at less than $2 per dose, falling to under $1 in 2025-a cost below standard global benchmarks.

The REACH model is built on three core capabilities:

● Sustained humanitarian access: Delivering vaccines in areas facing severe constraints on government service delivery through community trust, neutrality, and negotiated access;

● Full immunization, not just campaigns: Providing routine monthly vaccination for every child, alongside catch-up for zero-dose children aged 1-5;

● A multi-country, locally-led consortium model: Combining global coordination with delivery through more than 15 trusted civil society partners at community level.

As global health systems face tightening resources and rising need, the IRC is calling on donors and partners to scale up proven approaches like REACH-ensuring that progress in immunization is not reversed and that the hardest-to-reach children are not left behind.