Meeting of the South-East Asia Regional Working Group on Immunization

Overview

The annual meeting of the South-East (SE) Asia Regional Working Group (RWG) on Immunization was held in a hybrid format in New Delhi, India, on 7–9 July 2025.
The meeting brought together over 70 participants, including representatives of national immunization programmes from nine countries in the SE Asia Region of the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as immunization focal persons from WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) headquarters, regional and country offices, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) and other key partners. The meeting aimed to assess progress, address challenges and chart a strategic path forward for immunization in the Region.

The RWG, established in 2007, plays a pivotal role in coordinating partner support, aligning strategies and ensuring optimal use of resources to strengthen immunization systems across the WHO SE Asia Region. This year’s meeting took place amid persistent inequities, emerging vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) outbreaks and reduced global funding. Discussions focused on reviewing country progress, refining operational modalities and aligning with the evolving priorities of the Regional Vaccine Implementation Plan (RVIP) 2022–2026 and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s Strategy 6.0.

The WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia (WHO-SEARO) team highlighted the regional achievements such as polio elimination and high routine immunization coverage in several countries, while underscoring the urgent need to reach zero-dose children who have not received any vaccines, address subnational disparities and manage funding constraints. Despite progress in vaccine access and new introductions, the number of zero-dose children stood at 2.721 million in 2023. Measles outbreaks in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand revealed gaps in VPD surveillance and outbreak response. While rubella elimination is progressing, measles elimination remains off track for the regional 2026 target. Functional VPD surveillance systems require further strengthening, particularly with regard to laboratory capacity and cross-border coordination.