The Department of Health says continually plummeting vaccination rates have contributed to the rise in measles infections countrywide, with 3 462 laboratory-confirmed cases recorded since January this year, reports IOL.
Outbreaks have been reported in the Western Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Cape in children aged one to 14, and the department has called for urgent action to halt declining immunisation coverage and prevent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Spokesperson Foster Mohale said the proportion of unvaccinated infants had increased from 12.1% in 2017 to an alarming 36.3% between January and April 2026.
This effectively triples the number of completely unvaccinated children and leaves hundreds of thousands of infants at risk of life-threatening illnesses.
Mohale said routine immunisation coverage had fallen severely across all 52 districts in the country.
“First-dose coverage among children under one year dropped from 87% in 2021 to 67% in 2025, while coverage of the Hexavalent (6-in-1) infant vaccine declined from 87% to 60.5% over the same period.”
At current rates, he added, South Africa was unlikely to reach the World Health Organisation’s critical 90% coverage threshold for childhood immunisation.
He said the consequences of declining coverage include the resurgence of serious vaccine-preventable diseases, erosion of community – or herd – immunity, and higher rates of long-term disability and death among infants.
“This is no longer a theoretical risk because active outbreaks are occurring in multiple provinces countrywide.”
IOL article – SA measles cases hit 3,462 as unvaccinated infants triple (Open access)
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