By Asmau Ahmad
The National Immunisation Coverage Survey (NICS 2021), says immunisation rate in Nigeria improved from 34 per cent in 2016 to 57 per cent in 2021.
According to the 2021 NICS report, Enugu and Ebony states are in the lead with the highest number of vaccinated children.
The NICS was carried out in 2021 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) under the guidance of UNICEF as part of the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS).
The NICS is a household survey conducted to assess the percentage of children aged 12 to 23 months who received the vaccines, scheduled to be given in the first year of life.
A total of 5,582 children were enrolled from 1,779 survey clusters across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
According to the NICS report, 57 per cent of children received all three doses of Pentavalent vaccine, while 21 per cent of children who received Penta1 did not receive Penta3.
The report also showed that 18 per cent of children 12 to 23 months old did not receive any vaccinations, representing a relative decrease of 55 per cent from five years ago.
It indicated that only 36 per cent of children aged 12 to 23 months received all recommended vaccines in Nigeria, adding “substantially, more children are fully vaccinated in the southern zones, compared with the northern zones.”
“The smallest proportion of children who did not receive any vaccinations are in Enugu at one per cent and Ebonyi at zero per cent, while the highest percentage is in Sokoto at 51 per cent.”
Key findings for the South-East zone showed that only 57 per cent of children received all vaccine doses.
It showed that 43 per cent of children aged 12 to 23 months missed one or more routine communications, 38 per cent received
some but not all doses and five per cent did not receive any.
“Penta3 coverage in the South-East has been relatively high over the past 10 years but remains below the 90 per cent national goal.
“However, two states in the South-East, Ebonyi and Enugu have estimated coverage above 90 per cent.”
For the South-South zone, findings revealed that only 49 per cent of children received all doses, while 51 per cent of children aged
12 to 23 months missed one or more routine immunisations.
The report showed that 44 per cent received some but not all doses and seven per cent did not receive any.
It said that Penta3 coverage in the South-South had increased over the past 10 years, but remained below the 90 per cent national goal.
Key findings from the survey showed that only 50 per cent of children received all doses in the South-West zone.
“Fifty per cent of children aged 12 to 23 months missed one or more routine immunisation from the health systems
“While 39 per cent received some but not all doses and 11 per cent did not receive any.”
The report said findings showed that Penta3 coverage in South-West had been consistently below 75 per cent over the past decade.
Key findings from the North-West zone showed that only 25 per cent of children received all vaccine doses.
It noted that “75 per cent of children aged 12 to 23 months missed one or more routine immunisation from the health systems, while 48 per cent received some but not all doses and 27 per cent did not receive any.”
Findings also showed that Penta 3 coverage in the North-West was low but had been improving in recent years.
For the North-East zone, key findings showed that only 24 per cent of children received all vaccine doses.
The data showed that 76 per cent of children aged 12 to 23 months missed one or more routine immunisation from the health systems.
“While 49 per cent received some but not all doses and 27 per cent did not receive any.”
For the North-Central zone, key findings from the survey revealed that only 32 per cent of children received all doses.
The data showed that 68 per cent of children aged 12 to 23 months missed one or more routine immunisation from the health systems.
“While 56 per cent received some but not all doses and 12 per cent did not receive any.”
Findings showed that Penta3 coverage in North-West and North-East was low but had been improving in recent years, while in North- Central, it had improved since the 2016 NICS survey.
The NCIS survey said that lack of knowledge or information was the main reported reason that children were not fully vaccinated across all the zones.
