IMMUNISATION AND ENDANGERED CHILDREN

 Health authorities must ensure that children are immunised

The World Health Organisation (WHO) report that Nigeria has over 2.1 million zero-dose children who are yet to receive any form of vaccination is deeply concerning. More worrisome is that 70 cases of circulating Variant Polio Virus type 2 (cVPV2) have also been reported in Nigeria. “Every day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 under five years old children and 145 women of childbearing age. Most of these deaths are occurring in northern Nigeria,” according to the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) Executive Director, Muyi Aina who lamented the avoidable deaths due to poor vaccination.

  The Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN) has kept warning about the danger of high number of zero-dose children in the country. “The statistics of children who have received all the vaccines in the national programme is 23 per cent which is low. It is not surprising that our under-five mortality rate is so high,” said PAN president, Ekanem Ekure who disclosed that most of these children are in urban slumps, conflict areas, and remote and hard-to-reach communities. “We have the highest under-five mortality rate in the world, and unfortunately, these children are dying from diseases that can be prevented, for which the government has made vaccines available for free.”

Due to the security challenge that plagues the nation, routine immunisation, and the inability to access certain areas remains a major problem. Over the years, there have been reports that the country’s childhood vaccination coverage falls short of Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) targets, making many children vulnerable to death and vaccine-preventable diseases. Lending his weight to the campaign, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar has highlighted the immense benefits of vaccination for children. “So many of us have been vaccinated, and we are still on our feet, strong. Some people are 90 and above. So, what really is wrong with vaccine?” he asked.

It is however noteworthy that the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Mohammed Pate, has been proactive on the issue of children immunisation. In April this year, Nigeria became the first country in the world to roll out a new vaccine (called Men5CV) recommended by the World Health Organisation which protects people against meningitis. But Pate needs the support of other stakeholders, including the media, religious and traditional leaders as well as the civil society.

The challenge is quite daunting. In its most recent report, the United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) had revealed that 67 million children across the world missed out on either some or all routine vaccinations between 2019 and 2021. More disturbing is that on the number of children at the risk of death and vaccine-preventable diseases, Nigeria is second only to India. “We cannot allow confidence in routine immunisations to become another victim of the pandemic. Otherwise, the next wave of deaths could be of more children with measles, diphtheria, or other preventable diseases,” UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell warned. 

Immunisation, a measure used to track progress towards lowering child morbidity and mortality, is one of the most cost-effective public health initiatives. It is thus essential that the health authorities in Nigeria do more to ensure that all children are immunised and protected. Government at all levels as well as other critical stakeholders must also act to “catch up” with those missed vaccinations to prevent more deadly disease outbreaks. More importantly, there is an urgent need to intensify education and awareness of the deadly consequences of avoiding childhood vaccinations. Prevention, which is the whole idea of vaccination, is better than cure.