Chijioke Iremeka Medical experts have lamented that about 2.3 million Nigerian children have not received any routine immunisation vaccines, putting them at risk of preventable diseases and even death. The professionals disclosed this during the launch of the Zero-Dose Reduction Operational Planning initiative in Lagos on Wednesday.
The programme which was in partnership with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the World Health Organisation, United Nations Children’s Fund, Gavi, and the Lagos Government, was aimed at identifying and vaccinating children who have never been immunised. With this project, the state government is focusing on individuals aged 0 to 44 years for supplementary immunisation. Recall that the President of the Paediatric Association of Nigeria, Prof Ekanem Ekure had said that Nigeria disproportionately accounted for 2.
2 million of the 4.4 million zero-dose children in West Africa, the highest in the world. Ekure disclosed this while speaking at the Paediatric Association of Nigeria’s Children’s Art Competition on Immunisation to commemorate the 2024 Children’s Day in Lagos.
According to Ekure, only 23 percent of children were fully immunised according to the Expanded Programme on Immunisation schedule in 2021. “Zero-dose children are children who have not received any immunisation. West Africa has 4.
4 million zero-dose children, and Nigeria has 2.2 million zero-dose children, which is very sad. “The top areas where those zero.
