By Haruna Gimba
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says more than 1.2 million children in Nigeria are yet to be immunised.
The figure accounts for about six percent of 20 million children globally who are yet to be vaccinated.
UNICEF’s Communication Officer, Folashade Adebayo, disclosed this in Yola, Adamawa State at an ongoing media dialogue on routine immunisation, post-polio certification and COVID-19 vaccination.”
The meeting was organised by the Child Rights Information Bureau of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, in collaboration with the UNICEF.
Adebayo said that over 20 million children in the world are not immunised, adding that, about six per cent of them in Nigeria are basically missing out on vital vaccines.
According to her, there is a need to report more stories on poor immunisation rates in Nigeria to wake parents up to do the right thing for their children.
Adebayo said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had also disclosed that Nigeria is the country with the highest number of under five-deaths in the world.
She said that this position really called for serious attention on the part of the parents to take the issue of immunisation of their children serious at this point time.
“Improving survival and well-being of our children matters most here, the direct or underlying cause of 45 per cent of all deaths of under five children is immunisation.
“Nigeria has the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, 2.7 million other children are wasted.
“Also the COVID-19 pandemic and measures to contain it are worsening,” she said.
She, however, called for change in the narrative on the part of the parents, adding that, governments and other relevant agencies must also play their key role to achieve better results.
