"Everybody thought that we were progressing so well that we would just continue to progress. But in fact that did not happen," Dr Peter Salama, UNICEF's chief of immunization, told a news conference.
Some 30 million children are born each year, and since 1990, 103 countries are protecting 90 percent of their children against diseases preventable by vaccines. However another 74 nations have not done so, the report said.
About $1 billion is now being spent on immunizing children and another $1 billion is needed to bring all countries up to a U.N. goal of vaccinating 90 percent of children under one year of age by 2010, Salama said. But this figure could reach $6 billion as new vaccines are produced for diseases that cause diarrhea or pneumonia.
