Mirsal Adel, 47, had never struggled to find vaccines for his children. In his hometown of Ibb, in southwestern Yemen, 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.
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 – including UNICEF workers – and raids on its premises. The Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognised government for years, and have periodically cracked down on aid sector workers. 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. He said the trip cost him about $100, a prohibitive expense for many families in impoverished Yemen. The war in Yemen broke out in late 2014, when the Houthis seized much of northern and western Yemen, including Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries to intervene in support of the internationally recognised government in March 2015.
A United Nations-brokered ceasefire in 2022 significantly reduced fighting, but tensions have escalated since July, with fighting growing fiercer in recent days. In March this year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that only 59.3 percent of Yemen’s health facilities remained fully functional, while overall complete vaccination coverage stood at 63 percent. The figures, however, reflect the conditions before the total exhaustion of vaccine supplies in Houthi-controlled areas by July, meaning current national coverage rates are likely significantly worse.
Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Health Ministry in Sanaa, blamed UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for the collapse of the vaccine supply. He said authorities had informed both agencies early on regarding the impending shortages, yet no action was taken before all nine routine childhood vaccines were entirely exhausted. Al Jazeera also contacted Gavi for comment, but received no response.
Meanwhile, the UN continues to demand the immediate release of dozens of its personnel, alongside staff from international and local humanitarian organisations currently detained by the Houthis. The UN has also called for the return of assets seized during raids on its offices, and the lifting of operational restrictions on aid groups and their personnel. The Health Ministry in Aden said in late July that it had sufficient vaccines for the entire country, including Houthi-controlled areas.
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