The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) calls for an immediate national response to the deeply worrying child immunisation crisis.
The Federation is gravely alarmed by and fully supports the Department of Health’s statement declaring a public health emergency due to collapsing childhood immunisation rates.
The Department reports that the proportion of infants under one year old receiving no vaccines at all has tripled from 12.1% in 2017 to 36.3% between January and April 2026, leaving more than one in three babies completely unprotected. First dose coverage fell from 87% in 2021 to 67% in 2025, and hexavalent (6 in 1) coverage from 87% to 60.5%. Coverage has dropped sharply in all 52 districts across South Africa.
This is not a statistic. It is hundreds of thousands of working-class children at risk of life threatening illnesses. As a direct result we have 3,462 confirmed measles cases since January, mostly children aged 1-14 years, plus 400 rubella cases, whooping cough and sporadic diphtheria. We risk reversing the massive gains made in reducing infant and under five years mortality since 1994 under the African National Congress led administrations.
Years of underfunding, below inflation increases and austerity budget cuts have severely weakened the Department’s ability to ensure all children are vaccinated. We must condemn and reject the reckless, irresponsible and criminal behavior of those individuals who have shamefully and deliberately chosen to spread fake news about the safety and necessity of vaccines. Parents who fail in their responsibilities to fully vaccinate their children must be held accountable.
COSATU calls for urgent action that must include:
- A national catch-up campaign led by government, with the full support and participation of labour, businesses, communities, schools and the religious fraternity.
- A mass public education campaign highlighting that vaccines are free, safe, necessary and available at all public clinics and must reach every child. This must include countering fake news on social media.
- Schools fulfilling their legal obligations to require parents to provide proof of their children’s vaccination.
- An end to austerity cuts to public health, including filling nursing and other healthcare posts, functioning cold-chain infrastructure, outreach teams and deploying community health workers to reach remote and informal areas.
- Workplace support for workers where employers must give parents paid time off to vaccinate their children.
COSATU strongly encourages any worker or parent of a child infected by these potentially harmful and deadly diseases as a result of others not vaccinating, to take legal action, including suing those individuals, their employer, school or government. The days of tolerating irresponsible and potentially fatal behavior must end. There must be consequences for those who put the lives of children and other vulnerable persons at risk.
We urge all parents and caregivers to urgently take children for routine and catch-up vaccinations at their nearest clinic. Every child deserves protection. The state, employers, religious fraternity and society must act now.
Issued by COSATU
Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)
Mobile: 082 785 0687
Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za