Severe Vaccine Shortages in Yemen Threaten Millions of Children Amid Political Standoff

Mirsal Adel, 47, had never struggled to find vaccines for his children. In his hometown of Ibb, public hospitals and paediatric clinics always provided them free of charge. But when it came to vaccinating his fifth child, a four-month-old boy, securing a shot was far from straightforward.

“I visited the hospital more than once, and I was told that UNICEF, which used to provide the vaccines, stopped supplying them, with no word on when they might arrive,” said Adel. In October 2025, the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, halted operations in areas controlled by the Houthis following the detention of dozens of UN staff members and raids on its premises.

The Health Ministry in Yemen’s Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the final vaccine shipment it received arrived on September 4, 2025. In late July 2026, the government’s Health Ministry in Aden warned that nearly five million children in Houthi-controlled areas had been cut off from essential routine immunisations, prompting families like Adel’s to make costly journeys to government-held cities such as Taiz to find available doses.

While officials in Sanaa and Aden exchange blame over the crisis and the breakdown in supply chains involving UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, healthcare workers and parents warn that the next generation faces severe health risks unless an urgent solution is reached.