Yemen vaccine shortages leave millions of children without routine immunisations in Houthi-held areas

Routine vaccine shortages in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen are leaving about five million children without essential immunisations, according to the latest reporting from the country. The shortage is affecting families in areas where public hospitals and paediatric clinics once provided routine shots free of charge. In the southwestern city of Ibb, one father said he had to travel to government-held Taiz to vaccinate his four-month-old son after being told the vaccines were no longer being supplied locally.

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The disruption is linked to the suspension of operations by the United Nations children's agency in areas controlled by the Houthis in October 2025. That decision followed the detention of dozens of UN staff members, including agency workers, and raids on its premises. The health ministry in the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, confirmed that the final vaccine shipment it received arrived on September 4, 2025.

Separately, the health ministry in Aden warned in late July 2026 that nearly five million children in Houthi-controlled areas had been cut off from essential routine immunisations. The shortage is forcing some families to pay for travel to reach vaccination services that remain available in government-held areas. The father in Ibb said the trip to Taiz cost him about $100, a sum he described as prohibitive for many households in impoverished Yemen.

He said vaccination teams used to go door to door, but that this year the system changed suddenly and reliable vaccines became much harder to obtain. He added that he had managed to secure the first two doses of polio and pneumococcal vaccines, but was already worried about future appointments. The development matters because routine immunisation is one of the main defences against outbreaks of preventable disease, especially in a country where health services have been weakened by years of conflict.

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Yemen has been divided since the Houthis seized much of the north and west, including Sanaa, in late 2014, triggering a prolonged war with the internationally recognised government. In that context, any interruption to vaccine delivery can quickly widen existing health inequalities between areas under different authorities. The row also highlights the vulnerability of aid operations in Houthi-held territory.

The reported detentions of UN personnel and raids on premises have already affected the ability of humanitarian agencies to work there, and the vaccine shortage appears to be one of the clearest consequences so far. For families, the issue is immediate and practical: whether children can receive basic protection without having to travel long distances or pay costs they cannot afford. The figures cited in the reporting suggest the scale of the problem is broad rather than isolated.

About five million children are said to be deprived of essential routine vaccinations, which would affect a large share of the child population in the areas concerned. The fact that the final shipment reached Sanaa in September 2025 also suggests the supply gap has persisted for months, rather than emerging suddenly in recent days. What remains unclear is how quickly routine vaccine supply can resume in Houthi-controlled areas, or whether families will continue to rely on travel to government-held cities for immunisation.

It is also not clear whether humanitarian access conditions will improve enough for agencies to restart operations. For now, the main question is whether the disruption becomes a longer-term public health crisis or is resolved through renewed access and supply arrangements.