The U.N. children's agency reports about 1.4 million children under the age of five die unnecessarily each year from measles, whooping cough and other diseases preventable by vaccines.
According to the report, about 130 million children are born each year, and since 1990, about 70 percent have received the vital immunizations - up from some 20 percent under the age of 1 in 1980.
Since then, however, efforts to reach the remaining 20 or 30 percent who need help - mainly in poor countries - are lacking.
Dr. Peter Salama, UNICEF's chief of immunizations, says about $1 billion is now being spent on childhood immunization and about $1 billion more is needed to reach a goal set in 2002 of bringing vaccines to at least 90 percent of children worldwide under the age of one by 2010.
A UNICEF report focuses on the divide between vaccinations in rich and poor nations. In 2003, 90 percent of children in industrialized nations had proper immunizations. Those in west and central Africa, however, are at just 52 percent.
Overall, the report states 103 countries have a 90 percent protection rate against measles, while 16 are likely to achieve that rate by 2010. Another 55 need improvements, while 16 must reverse declining immunization rates.
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